Can trade and logistics remake Florida? GIS WebTech has shared with us (via twitter) a story from Brookings that raises this question – and answers with an emphatic yes. As Brookings points out, many of Florida’s metro areas have yet to recoup the job losses sustained...
US Almond Exports Volume Down, Value Up in October
Our latest trade data confirms that the California drought’s toll on almond harvests has resulted in decreased export volumes – down nearly 13% in October compared with the same month a year ago. At the same time, the shortage appears to have driven up prices enough...
Agricultural Juggernaut: California’s Almond Exports
This caught our eye in the story about the reboot of US-India trade relations: Almonds round out India’s top five imports from the US. Almonds are an export success story for the US – and for California in particular. In fact, almonds are a leading US export crop,...
Game of Chicken: Who Stands to Lose from Russia Sanctions?
Russian consumers will likely top the list of losers under Moscow’s one-year ban on all meat, fish, poultry, dairy, fruit and vegetables imports from the US, the EU, Canada, Australia, and Norway, effective August 7, 2014. Or, as the New York Times put it, Russia...
Are Tennessee Whiskey Exports Tapping out Supplies?
Global demand is on the rise for whiskey, especially Tennessee whiskey, the fastest-growing category. Sales, foreign and domestic, are outpacing production at least 2 to 1, reports The Tennesseean – and the production process (requiring two-years of aging, at minimum)...
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...
Trade Data Points to Potential Impact of Russia Sanctions
While the early rounds of US sanctions aimed at getting Russia to rethink its Crimea strategy have been confined to a small circle of government insiders and banking institutions, President Obama has signed an executive order that clears the way for sterner measures,...
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...