US and China reach phase one agreement!

18Dec, 2019

After almost two years of ever-increasing tariff negotiations, the US and China have come to a preliminary “phase one” bilateral trade agreement. Key points of the agreement include agricultural exports from the US to China, intellectual property securities and both a reduction of current tariffs on the first three tranches of duties and a cancellation… Read more »

16Jan, 2019

When the government couldn’t reach a deal on a funding bill on December 21st, due to the precarious inclusion of funding for a border wall, a shutdown began throughout the nation, furloughing workers. The issues surrounding the shutdown reach deep into the logistics industry as CBP, the TSA and other agencies are either not working… Read more »

30Nov, 2018

We have covered in multiple posts the additional duties that have been placed on steel, aluminum and solar panels from countries around the world, as well as the three separate lists of goods only from China. The first two lists were proposed and implemented with duty rates of 25%. The third list which contains far… Read more »

20Sep, 2018

Effective September 24, a third set of tariffs will go into effect on $200 billion of Chinese imports. Initially the tariffs will be set at 10% through the end of the year and will rise to 25% on January 1, 2019. While 6,031 tariff lines were initially proposed, the negotiation period saw the removal of… Read more »

11Jul, 2018

This morning, the US Trade Representative announced a third list of HTS numbers totaling approximately $200 billion in imports from China. The escalating tit-for-tat between the United States and China shows no sign of abating and US importers and exporters are the ones directly feeling the impact. US consumers are sure to start to feel… Read more »

18Jun, 2018

On Friday, June 15th, the United States Trade Representative announced that the U.S. was moving ahead with imposing a 25% duty on list of a little over 800 different harmonized tariff items from China. Customs and Border Protection will begin collecting these duties for goods entered or withdrawn beginning July 6, 2018. Following a comment… Read more »

1Feb, 2018

On December 31, 2017, GSP expired. The Generalized System of Preferences is a tariff preference program for developing countries that affords US importers the opportunity to enter eligible goods from these countries duty-free. The rules and participating countries and tariff numbers are published at the front of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule. GSP-eligible goods must meet… Read more »

21Aug, 2017

The commercial invoice (CI) is the record of a sales transaction and a crucial part of any import/export shipment. In a transaction, these documents record the buyer and seller’s information, detailed descriptions and quantities, trade terms, price, reference marks regarding the packaging and contents, payment arrangements, and the signature of the exporter that are agreed… Read more »

22Sep, 2016

Earlier this year, footwear manufacturer Birkenstock announced that effective January 1st, their merchandise would no longer be available for purchase on Amazon. In fact, they have issue the cautionary warning that any of their product found on Amazon likely was counterfeit. Fashion brands who are increasingly turning to eCommerce platforms like Amazon and Alibaba because… Read more »

22Jul, 2016

One of the side effects of being in the logistics industry is that you look at certain things through a different set of eyes. When I go shopping, I look at country of origin markings. When I see foreign aircraft I usually know the flight number and where it’s coming from. Ocean containers are a whole different discussion… Read more »