by Brian J. McCormick, guest columnist The US Census, the source for US import-export trade statistics, routinely modifies or suppresses selected data, primarily to protect confidentiality. Thus, statistics for two or more ports may be combined and published under an...
Mexico Poised to Surpass Japan as Source for US Auto Imports
Japan, the No. 2 source for autos imported by the US since the 1970s, will likely be overtaken by Mexico this year, according to a report from Bloomberg that cites IHS Automotive estimates. Mexican auto exports have quadrupled from 1993 to 2013, says Bloomberg, while...
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...
Suntory Bets on Global Demand for Beam’s Distinctive Product of the US
In taking over Jim Beam, makers of the world’s best-selling bourbon, Suntory is not only aiming for a bigger presence in the US market, say analysts. The Japanese company is also banking on the world’s growing thirst for the spirit that Congress declared a...
LatAm Chemical Trade Stats Point to Savings for US Purchasers
by Brian J. McCormick, guest columnist Chemcost’s search for “the New Cheap”* winds up this month with a big opportunity story in Latin American trade. Last month we focused on Brazil (see Brazil’s In-Balance Trade Offers One Sweet Saving Opportunity). This month our...
SolarWorld Moves to Close Loophole in Anti-Dumping Orders
SolarWorld has petitioned the US International Trade Commission and the Department of Commerce to close a loophole in year-old trade remedies – through which, it claims, Chinese and Taiwanese manufacturers are dumping under-priced solar panels on the US market. It was...
What to Expect from CBP in 2014: 10 Predictions
by Peter Quinter, guest columnist Here is my annual list of predictions for US Customs and Border Protection in the year ahead: 1. President Obama will nominate and the Senate will confirm a new, permanent CBP Commissioner. 2. CBP’s...
The Boxes under the White House Christmas Tree
Over at the World Bank blog The Trade Post, the stacked cargo shipping containers under the Christmas tree on the Ellipse south of the White House in Washington, DC, are seen as a signal of US support for an open and revived international trading system – one more...
Brazil’s In-Balance Trade Offers One Sweet Saving Opportunity
by Brian J. McCormick, guest columnist As promised last time, Chemcost’s search for “The New Cheap”* changes course this month and heads south to Brazil. What we find is that Brazil’s trade in the 10 chemical commodities that make up Datamyne’s US Best Price Benchmark...
For Lululemon, Changes at the Top (in Supply Lines Too?)
There might have been a chance that Lululemon’s decision to return the too-sheer pants it had recalled in March to stores in October as “Second Chance Pants” would be judged a brave (if misguided) attempt to snatch merchandising victory from the jaws of a marketing...