Page 50 - Azerbaijan State University of Economics

THE JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC SCIENCES: THEORY AND PRACTICE, V.83, # 1, 2026, pp. 40-57

Amid rising global uncertainties like pandemics, conflicts, and natural disasters,
intelligent supply chains particularly highlight their flexibility and resilience.
Businesses can rapidly reconfigure supply chain structures through AI systems,
flexibly switching suppliers and distribution centers to ensure stable trade operations.
For instance, Apple leveraged its global AI-driven collaborative system to swiftly
reconfigure key component procurement routes during the 2021 global chip shortage
crisis, thereby maintaining normal shipments of its flagship products.

Typical Case: Amazon and JD.com’s Smart Trade System.
Amazon: Amazon has formed an efficient digital supply chain network covering the
world through AI algorithm-driven smart warehousing systems (such as Kiva robots),
predictive delivery systems and pricing optimization models. Its "smart forward
warehouse" system can predict users' potential purchasing behavior and deliver goods
to regional logistics nodes in advance, shortening delivery time.

JD.com: JD.com has established a large number of unmanned warehouses, smart
sorting systems and self-driving delivery vehicles in China, and its supply chain
efficiency has become the world's leading level. Through the real-time analysis of
order data by the AI system, JD.com can accurately control the inventory location and
quantity and achieve "minute-level response" cross-regional logistics scheduling.
In summary, digital trade and smart supply chains constitute the new infrastructure
for international trade in the AI era. They not only improve the efficiency and
flexibility of cross-border transactions, but also promote the evolution of global trade
towards a new model of high quality, low cost, personalization and real-time response.

3.3 Trade Barriers and Policy Challenges
Artificial intelligence and robotics are profoundly changing the international trade
model, while also bringing new policy challenges and non-traditional trade barriers(Pan
et al., 2025). Against the backdrop of the accelerated development of global digital and
intelligent trade, technological dominance, data security, standard setting and talent
competition have become the focus of competition among countries, and traditional
tariff barriers are giving way to "technical barriers" and "institutional barriers".

Rise of Technological Protectionism. The strategic value of AI and related high-end
technologies is becoming increasingly prominent, and some developed countries have
strengthened export controls on key technologies such as core algorithms, chips, and
industrial robot systems. This "new technology cold war" trend has increased the
difficulty for developing countries to obtain advanced technologies and raised the
threshold for companies to participate in the global value chain. For example, the
export restrictions on high-tech products imposed by the United States on China have

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