Bersin described as “a radical departure from prior leaders” American Shipper reports that Alan Bersin’s appointment as Commissioner of US Customs and Border Protection will most likely not be confirmed by the Senate and he will have to step down. President Obama made...
Chinese Solar Imports Draw Fire
Do surging shipments and dropping prices signal dumping? Potential scandal aside, Solyndra’s August bankruptcy filing, close behind the failures of Evergreen Solar and SpectraWatt, signals a fast and hard shake-out of the US solar energy industry. A global glut of...
Food Prices: Why So High?
Latest spike is a variation on the pattern set in 2002 A steady downward trend in global food prices in 1980-2002 has given way to sharp rises and falls. A report from the US Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service (ERS) looks for answers to the question...
CBP’s Bonding Falls Short
DHS report documents multimillion write-off on failures to collect by Peter Quinter, guest columnist The Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a report criticizing US Customs and Border Protection (CBP). In a June...
Mexico Tweets
Ambassador to the US Arturo Sarukhan plugs benefits of NAFTA Over the next few days, Ambassador Sarukhan promises to deliver – via twitter – powerful examples of how trade with Mexico benefits the US economy and helps create US jobs. Here are some of the examples he’s...
Game Changer
Colombian importers go shopping in Canada as FTA enters into force Last year, Compania de Galletas Noel SAS imported $22,875,271 worth (the FOB value in US$ on 111,264,125 kilograms) of wheat from the US, Datamyne’s trade data shows. Next year, the Colombian maker of...
Regulatory Mélange
Grocery Manufacturers Association recommends a blend of US-EU food standards The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) just endorsed a new bill in Congress aimed at Agricultural Trade Facilitation – that is, lowering barriers to US agricultural exports. Pamela G....
Argentina Uncorks Exports
Wine exports are “growing like crazy.” But protectionism could stopper trade. by Bill Armbruster, blog anchor Argentina surged ahead of Chile to become the third largest source of US table wine imports during the first quarter, according to the National Association of...
Copper Benchmark
Peru is poised to boost copper output as global demand outstrips supply Glencore, the commodities trader whose May initial public offering raised $10 billion, has just paid $475 million in cash to CST Mining Group for a 70% interest in Marcobre S.A.C., sole owner of...
Whisky to Flow Freely
And that’s not all as FTAs come into force July 1 Here’s a new take on the classic UK-centric newspaper headline, “Fog in Channel. Continent Cut off.” The BBC reports that “South Korea lifts Scotch whisky import barriers”. True, as far as it goes: Effective today, a...