Import tariffs and potential trade wars have been a hot topic in the media since Trump was elected President. My colleagues and I have written about the topic a number of times on Logistics Viewpoints, as well. However, much of the news propagates recent announcements and often includes an opinion on the subject matter. I thought it would be helpful to take an empirical look at import data surrounding tariff announcements and implementations to determine […]
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Archive for Global Trade
President Trump has been quite vocal when discussing US trade deals, often lamenting how the US has been getting the short end of the stick on almost every trade deal. One of his first moves as President was to pull the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) citing it as a bad deal. Since then, the President has been renegotiating NAFTA (another “bad deal” for the US), and imposing tariffs on goods imported worldwide. The […]
Read More →A.T. Kearney publishes an annual study on reshoring. Their July 2018 release – their fourth annual “Reshoring Index” – shows record imports from traditional offshoring countries in 2017. “Imports of manufactured goods into the United States from the 14 largest low-cost-country trading partners in Asia rose by a staggering $55 billion, or 8 percent—the largest one-year increase since the economic recovery of 2011. Tariffs and political pressure is unlikely to change things very much in the near term because changing global supply chains is not quick or easy.
Read More →You could call it the perfect capacity storm, as a number of the same challenges that U.S. domestic shippers are encountering are also impacting cross-border logistics in Mexico. In addition to factors such as the ELD mandate and recent extreme winter weather conditions, the upcoming peak produce shipping season in Mexico is set to put additional pressure on capacity and create unexpected costs for carriers and shippers alike. So, how can cross-border shippers combat some […]
Read More →The trade industry certainly loves buzzwords, and ‘control tower’ gets serious air time in our industry. But, what really is a control tower and how does it relate to your supply chain operations? When we think of control tower capabilities, we envision an airport control tower or a scenario like NASA mission control. Folks buzzing around with big screens showing various views of activity, blips moving across space and lots of communication going on. The […]
Read More →Although it’s a fresh, new year, many global companies and their supply chains in the US have been suffering alongside individuals this winter. Icy, wintry winds and driving snow jammed air traffic and roads in the east, while fires swept across the west, then rains turned major highways into muddy messes with flash floods. All throughout 2017, Mother Nature didn’t pause to worry about the delays and problems she created for shippers all over the […]
Read More →Vague item descriptions. Wrong addresses. Potential customs traps that can cost companies time and money when moving international shipments. Even with advanced technology that has come a long way in digitizing customs procedures, risks still remain in today’s global trade environment if electronic declarations aren’t filled out completely, accurately, and plausibly. Any of these pitfalls can increase costs and hamper productivity—and simply, interrupt the flow of goods. But there is a way forward. Best-of-breed, multi-country […]
Read More →The United States exported $2.2 trillion dollars of product in 2016, making it the third largest world exporter after China and the European Union.[i] Much of this is due to the easing of export controls over the past five years by the Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) in cooperation with other federal agencies. That’s great news for US companies seeking to expand their sales beyond the domestic market. Yet still, the […]
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Supply Chain Brief
Navigating the Transportation Capacity Crunch
Just this week, forecasters warned that the 2018 hurricane season could be more active than usual, unfortunately as busy as the stormy 2017 season that brought unprecedented damage to many areas. What does this have to do with the supply chain? Shippers know all too well that the strain on truck capacity and supply chain resources continues to have an impact, and the overall capacity issue will remain for the long-haul. A wait-and-see approach by […]
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