New Harmonized System – or HS – tariff codes debuted with the New Year in the 2017 edition of the U.S. Harmonized Tariff System – or HTS. (What’s the difference between HS and HTS? See our FAQ here. More on the rollover can be found here in our complimentary...
Whiskies Top Tipple in U.S. Trade in Distilled Spirits
Whiskies were the top tipple in U.S. trade in distilled spirits in 2016, with one notable exception. Our 2016 U.S. Census-sourced data shows whiskies with the leading share of imports by value (27%) and volume (31%), and exports by volume (76%) of trade in the...
Pacific Alliance Expansion Plans
Could the Pacific Alliance become the vehicle for the economic ties across the Pacific Rim that were the aim of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)? The four members of the trade bloc – Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru – are among Latin America’s leading advocates for...
Brazilian Meat Exports Skewered by Operation Weak Flesh
Brazilian meat exports have taken a big hit. On March 17, Brazil’s federal police raided meat packers accused of paying off inspectors to okay rotten and adulterated meat for market, capping a two-year investigation into official corruption dubbed “Operation Weak...
NVOCC US Import TEU Share Nears 39 Percent
NVOCCs again laid claim to a record 38.8% share of US import shipping volumes in 2016, with a growth rate in TEUs that outpaced the rate of carriers as a whole. Our bill-of-lading data shows that ocean carriers brought 20,953,723 TEUs in imports to US ports last year;...
Actively Seeking Trade Ties | Mercosur
Mercosur is looking for opportunities to do more cross-border business both within the five-member trade bloc and beyond. Foreign ministers are set to meet March 9 to discuss lowering barriers to trade among the countries that make up the “Common Market of the South”...
A Tale of Two Whistleblowers (Spoiler: Importers Lose)
by John M. Peterson, guest columnist Two recent cases brought under the federal False Claims Act (FCA) underscore how risky importing can be in this era of whistleblower lawsuits. One case won in court. The other seemed to have failed, only to get a second chance....
China in the Crosshairs as US Takes Aim at Imports
Has China moved into the crosshairs as the US takes aim at imports? Candidate Donald Trump promised pushback on Chinese imports during his campaign. Now the new president has tapped China critics and trade hawks to fill key trade posts in his administration, as the...
Li-ion Batteries Drive Chinese Lithium Imports
Lithium, last year’s hottest metal, looks set to be even hotter in 2017. With the new year barely a day old, mineral exploration company Birimian announced the sale of its Bougouni lithium project in southern Mali to China’s Shandong Mingrui Group. The deal signals...
Ban on Forced-Labor Imports Tightened
by John M. Peterson, guest columnist Congress recently (and quietly) removed an exception to the 85-year-old prohibition on importing goods made with forced and indentured labor. Section 910 of the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2016 repeals the...