Description

Host: Annik Sobing
Guests: Sean Yu and Chen Cui, Co-founders of GingerControl
Published: January 2026
Length: ~25 minutes
Presented by: Global Training Center

In this energetic Simply Trade News Roundup, host Annik Sobing welcomes Sean Yu and Chen Cui, the twenty-something co-founders of GingerControl—an AI-powered trade compliance startup that's shaking up the industry's manual processes with tariff optimization and automation tools. High school friends from New Zealand who bonded over geopolitics, Sean (the numbers guy) and Chen (the ICPA conference hustler) spotted trade's massive tech gap six months ago: legacy systems like SAP/Oracle can't handle tariff volatility, and most tools lack solid data architecture or "ground truth" references.​

They explain GingerControl's origin as a tariff briefing tool (40 enterprise subscribers already) that delivers actionable HTS impacts and financial analysis, evolving into broader automation that liberates compliance teams from repetitive work for strategic scenario planning. Named after the "Ginger Man" (Trump TikTok meme), their platform claims 5-8% average tariff savings through compliant optimization across millions of tariff texts—without hallucinations or legal risks. The duo candidly addresses industry skepticism: Sean trained their AI to score 96.3% on the customs broker exam (beating competitors), while Chen highlights how gatekeeping (hard exams, lack of youth) and "vibe coding" (AI without foundations) plague the sector.​

Annik probes generational dynamics: their youth gave them intuitive AI fluency, but they've engineered intuitive interfaces for all ages. They see tariff chaos elevating compliance from "basement" to "boardroom," predict one-person compliance teams becoming unsustainable, and envision GingerControl as the industry's trusted one-stop solution within five years. Fun close: If they were shipping containers, Chen wants global travel without inspections, Sean aims for Africa's coasts, and Annik dreams of Mediterranean sunsets.​

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• How two Gen Z friends spotted trade's tech crisis and built GingerControl from tariff briefings to full compliance automation.​

• Why legacy ERP systems fail under tariff volatility and how "vibe coding" creates unreliable AI tools.​

• GingerControl's edge: 96.3% customs broker exam score, 5-8% tariff savings, and "ground truth" references for audit-proof reasonable care.​

• The youth barrier in trade (hard exams, no intentional entrants) and how tariff chaos could force compliance into C-suites.​

• Their vision: liberate compliance from grunt work, enabling strategic planning as next-gen talent arrives.​

Key Takeaways

• Trade's manual processes and gatekeeping create massive tech opportunity for agile, compliant AI startups.​

• True AI value lies in reliable references and auditability, not just flashy outputs—96.3% broker exam proves it.​

• Tariff volatility demands boardroom compliance; one-person teams importing millions of units won't scale.​

• Youth brings intuitive AI design, but success requires understanding all users and building intuitive interfaces.

• Checkout their new HTS Classification tool: https://tariff.gingercontrol.com/classifier​

Credits
Host: Annik Sobing
Guests: Sean Yu & Chen Cui – Co-founders, GingerControl
Producer: Annik Sobing

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