On the afternoon of May 12, 2026, the 165th session of the “Jingshi Economics and Management · Expert Forum” was held in Conference Room 1632, Rear Main Building, hosted by Beijing Normal University Business School (BNUBS). The forum invited Professor Lv Yue from the School of International Trade and Economics, University of International Business and Economics, to deliver a keynote speech themed International Trade Research in the Era of Artificial Intelligence. More than 50 teachers, master’s and doctoral students from various schools and departments attended the event, which was presided over by Professor Wei Hao from BNUBS.

At the beginning of the lecture, Professor Wei Hao briefly introduced Professor Lv Yue’s academic achievements and professional contributions, and extended a warm welcome to her. As Associate Dean, Professor and Doctoral Supervisor of the School of International Trade and Economics, University of International Business and Economics, Professor Lv Yue is a recipient of the National Ten-Thousand Talents Program. She serves as the Chief Expert for major projects funded by the National Social Science Fund of China, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of International Trade Issues, and Deputy Secretary-General of the Youth Forum under the National University Consortium for International Trade Disciplines. She has long devoted herself to research on global value chains, industrial chain and supply chain security, digital economy, the Belt and Road Initiative, and artificial intelligence. To date, she has published nearly 120 papers in top domestic and international journals including Social Sciences in China, Economic Research Journal and Management World. She has won numerous prestigious awards such as the Outstanding Scientific Research Achievement Award for Institutions of Higher Education issued by the Ministry of Education and the An Zijie Award for International Trade Research. Additionally, she has undertaken over 20 research projects at or above the provincial and ministerial level. Nearly 50 high-quality policy proposals submitted by her team have been adopted by authorities at provincial, ministerial and higher levels, many of which have received instructions from central leading officials. Professor Wei Hao also introduced that the event consisted of two sessions: an academic lecture and a journal exchange session. From the dual perspectives of academic research and journal editorial work, the activity interpreted the latest developments at the intersection of artificial intelligence and international trade, as well as key points for paper submission and publication.

During the lecture, Professor Lv Yue first reviewed the leaping development of artificial intelligence (AI) and its profound impacts on the global trade landscape. Citing the latest reports from the OECD, WTO and McKinsey, she pointed out that AI has become a strategic high ground in international competition, with countries worldwide rolling out relevant development and regulatory policies. Practices including the intelligent supervision system of Guangzhou Customs and Alibaba’s cross-border intelligent agents have helped cut costs and improve efficiency in trade. AI has also fostered new trade formats such as AI-driven value chains and "frame extraction-based cross-border content distribution". Meanwhile, it poses global challenges for trade governance, ethical norms and regulation.She then shared the latest findings of a systematic literature review on the integration of AI and international trade conducted by her research team. The team retrieved Chinese and English literature as well as working papers from databases including CNKI, Wanfang Data and Dynamic Scholar. With the help of large language models, 421 highly relevant papers were selected. For the first time, the study established a unified analytical framework covering two major research orientations: AI as a research subject and AI as a research tool. It clearly illustrated the development trajectory, journal distribution and evolving research hotspots in this field since 2018. Professor Lv Yue noted that empirical studies dominate current research in this area. Chinese literature mainly focuses on global value chain embedding and supply chain resilience, while foreign papers place emphasis on trade cost reduction and the restructuring of global division of labor. The number of relevant studies has grown explosively in the past two years, leaving plenty of untapped academic potential. Furthermore, she outlined future research directions for international trade studies in the AI era from three aspects: constructing trade theoretical models that reflect real-world conditions, breaking through bottlenecks in trade data acquisition, and expanding research on trade policies and global governance. She encouraged teachers and students to align their research with major national strategic needs and explore cutting-edge academic topics with Chinese characteristics and practical significance.

Professor Lv Yue’s sharing aroused keen interest among the audience. Participants engaged in in-depth discussions covering AI quantitative research methods, literature retrieval and sorting techniques, as well as the selection criteria and submission guidelines for Journal of International Trade Issues. The venue was filled with a vibrant academic atmosphere.

In his concluding remarks, Professor Wei Hao stressed that thorough literature review serves as the fundamental starting point of academic research. Only by fully grasping domestic and international frontier research outcomes can scholars avoid repetitive low-level studies and deliver influential academic results. He also mentioned that artificial intelligence can achieve in-depth integration with various sub-disciplines of economics and management, bringing brand-new research ideas and methodological tools to traditional academic fields.

The event concluded with sincere gratitude and warm applause from all present for Professor Lv Yue’s wonderful sharing. The 165th "Jingshi Economics & Management · Expert Forum Lecture Series" came to a successful end.

Contributed by Academic Practice Department of the Graduate Student Union

Edited by Sun Yue

Reviewed by Hu Conghui