As global trade rules continue to change at an unprecedented pace, logistics technology startup Wove is positioning itself as a valuable resource for freight forwarders, customs brokers and importers looking to stay compliant without adding manual work.
The Atlanta-based company has expanded its AI-powered workflow automation platform by introducing a free tariff calculator and simulator designed to help businesses navigate the growing complexity of global trade regulations.
Originally focused on workflow automation, document processing and structured data extraction for freight forwarders and customs brokers, Wove automates tasks such as creating CargoWise shipments, preparing customs entries, generating quotations and handling customer communications.
According to co-founder and CEO Jay Edlin, the company realized late last year that the same artificial intelligence technology it had developed to interpret unstructured logistics documents could also be applied to the U.S. Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS).
“HTS is published mostly in PDFs,” Edlin explained. “It’s unstructured and hard to really understand.”
The timing proved ideal. Around the same period, freight forwarder Flexport removed public access to its free tariff calculator, creating an opportunity for Wove to introduce its own solution.
The company launched the platform within days, and it has since become one of the industry’s most widely used free tariff calculators, attracting thousands of users each week.
AI tracks tariffs through time
As tariff policies continued to evolve, Wove expanded the tool beyond simple duty calculations.
Edlin said the platform effectively became a “tariff time machine,” allowing users to compare historical duty rates based on previous entry dates. That capability became particularly valuable after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
The historical data is now being used to help companies calculate potential tariff refunds related to those previously collected duties.
The IEEPA had allowed the U.S. President to regulate certain economic transactions during declared national emergencies, and President Donald Trump used the law to impose tariffs while negotiating new trade agreements.
Following the Supreme Court’s decision that the law did not authorize those tariffs, U.S. Customs and Border Protection became responsible for processing billions of dollars in potential refunds, creating a significant administrative burden for importers.
At the same time, new tariff programs quickly replaced the previous measures, adding another layer of complexity.
“Obviously, the pace of change is not slowing down,” Edlin said.
AI agents automate regulatory updates
Wove has responded by automating the entire process of monitoring tariff changes.
Every time a new regulation is published in the Federal Register, the company’s AI agents detect the update, notify users through Slack and automatically apply the necessary changes to customer systems.
Unlike traditional workflow automation tools, AI agents are capable of independently interpreting objectives and completing complex tasks with minimal human intervention.
Edlin said Wove’s AI agents processed the latest Section 301 tariff revisions—covering nearly 400 pages of regulatory changes—in approximately one hour.
The platform also recently incorporated updates covering new Section 338 tariffs on Canadian goods and the latest Section 301 measures affecting dozens of trading partners over alleged forced labor concerns.
Expanding beyond freight forwarders
While the free tariff calculator initially served as a lead-generation tool, demand has rapidly expanded beyond freight forwarding companies.
Importers have increasingly requested API access to integrate Wove’s tariff database directly into their own software platforms.
Many customers also wanted the ability to build product catalogs linking stock keeping units (SKUs), HTS classifications and internal part numbers to automate tariff calculations across their inventories.
Academic researchers are now using Wove’s tariff database for trade analysis, while manufacturers and importers are integrating the data into enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.
Growing international customer base
Although its technology was initially developed for U.S. trade compliance, Wove now also supports imports into Mexico, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and the European Union.
The company’s customer portfolio includes freight forwarders Hellmann Worldwide, Navia Freight, Future Forwarding and CBX Global, as well as importers Babcock Power, Greatneck Tools, Roto and Wabtec (NYSE: WAB).
Edlin believes Wove’s independent business model gives it an advantage over some competitors.
“Because we’re not a customs broker ourselves, we have no reason to gate anyone from accessing our data,” he said. “That’s a little different from others that may offer similar tools, because they have different incentives than we do.”
As global tariff policies continue to evolve rapidly, Wove is positioning its AI platform as a way for logistics providers to automate compliance, reduce manual processing and react to regulatory changes in real time without adding operational complexity.
