At GTNF 2026 in Lisbon, Chris Greer, senior vice president for regulatory and external affairs at Stryk Brands, moderated a panel examining how companies can navigate an increasingly fragmented global trade environment. “Surviving in a Global Trade System” focused on cross-border challenges involving taxes, tariffs, regulation, movement of goods and services, and labor, with panelists arguing that increasingly localized requirements are creating high costs and complexity for businesses.
Greer said the panel was focused on systemic issues that are changing rapidly, including the growing influence of health regulations on international trade. He warned against one-size-fits-all approaches and said excessive non-tariff barriers can reduce market efficiency and contribute to illicit markets.
Tracy Berry, vice president of tax compliance at Laudisi Enterprises, said the costs of increasingly complex requirements ultimately fall on consumers. She also highlighted the burden on small businesses, pointing to FDA treatment of an artisan pipe maker producing a single pipe in a garage compared with a large manufacturing facility.
Chris Gemmell, chief product and innovation officer at Greentank Technologies, said the era of a single global product platform is ending as companies adapt products to individual markets. He suggested companies think of products like “Legos,” with modular components that can be changed quickly to meet different regulatory requirements. He also pointed to the cumulative costs of compliance, testing, taxes and tariffs, particularly when compliant companies compete against businesses that do not face the same costs.
Markus Lindblad, head of legal and external affairs at Haypp Group, said companies may be international in scope but increasingly have to operate locally because regulations differ significantly between countries. He argued that regulators should pursue “purpose-driven regulation” rather than simply adding more rules and said global technology platforms also need greater regulatory attention. Lindblad said companies must consider not only whether they can enter a market but whether the market is stable and provides sufficient conditions to operate.
