by Bill Armbruster, blog anchor Bechtel is proposing to build an offshore port along the East Coast or Gulf Coast. The behemoth engineering company says the new port, with an annual capacity of 4 million TEUs, would eliminate the need for hugely expensive dredging of...
Miscellaneous Tariff Bill “Noncontroversial” No More
by Bill Armbruster, blog anchor By definition, the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill is “noncontroversial.” Once enacted, the MTB suspends import duties for two to three years on a mixed bag of chemicals and components that aren’t made in the USA but are inputs for US...
Where Love and Quiches Found Working Capital: US Ex-Im Bank
by Bill Armbruster, blog anchor Financing is often the most crucial issue for US exporters, even more than the price of their goods. If commercial banks won’t provide the necessary credit, or the foreign buyers require assistance with financing so they can pay for the...
Getting Governments to Shop for Best Value, Not Lowball Bids
by Bill Armbruster, blog anchor A new US program and a revised World Trade Organization agreement aimed at getting governments to shop for best value instead of lowest cost may open significant opportunities for US companies to sell in foreign markets. The US Trade...
Will Look South Initiative Yield Results? Potential’s There.
by Bill Armbruster, blog anchor Business executives and trade analysts generally applaud the Obama administration’s new Look South Initiative, I found. (See my related post for details on this program to boost US exports.) “The initiative has the potential to help...
Look South Initiative Aims to Lift US Exports to Latin America
by Bill Armbruster, blog anchor While Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations grab headlines, the Obama administration is launching a program to create export opportunities for US companies in this hemisphere. The new Look South initiative aims to help companies chart...
Reforms Ease US Export Controls, Constraint on Competitiveness
by Bill Armbruster, blog anchor Export controls have long bedeviled US business. Obviously, for national security purposes, some controls are needed. We don’t want our adversaries, or potential adversaries, to have easy access to items that could be used to attack the...
FTZs: No Drawbacks for Exporters, Big Gains for Local Economies
by Bill Armbruster, blog anchor For exporters that use significant amounts of imported components or raw materials, there are significant benefits to be had from setting up in a Foreign Trade Zone. The most obvious benefit is that they do not pay Customs duties on...
Import and Export Companies Can Cut Costs in FTZs, But Few Do
by Bill Armbruster, blog anchor Whether you’re an importer, exporter or distributor, doing business within a Foreign Trade Zone offers many opportunities to trim costs, yet relatively few companies pick up on them. “We were surprised that that so few companies were in...
Show What You’ve Got
It’s not too late for US exporters to apply for International Buyer Program B2B match-making at this Fall’s trade shows | by Bill Armbruster, blog anchor. Whether you’re looking to buy or sell, trade shows and trade fairs are excellent venues for reaching potential...