When COVID-19 shut down retail outlets, sales inevitably faltered. Then stuck-at-home consumers decided to redecorate – or move on and furnish someplace new – and orders for furniture surged. Sales are better than expected, but less than they might have been had...
Global shortages of automotive semiconductors have forced car manufacturers to shut down assembly lines and mull supply chain resiliency strategies to prevent further disruptions over the long term. Now the Biden Administration, as part of its review of key U.S....
Public policy, private investment, and technological advances are making electric vehicles (EV) a practical alternative for more car owners. While the market is bullish on accelerating EV sales, there are worries, global trade data shows, about assuring supplies of...
Global trade trends show that U.S. imports surged in the run-up to the holidays. But after nine months of pandemic shut-downs, following on a year of trade dampening tariffs, the fall’s record volumes are largely making up for the losses in the spring. 2020’s year-end...
Pharmaceutical imports and imports of chemicals under Section VI of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) are likely to be one of the sectors most notably impacted by the coronavirus pandemic over the next several years. The commonly held belief is that Covid-19 has...
Last year closed with a Phase One agreement to “reset the relationship” between the U.S. and China. Roughly the same time, the first cases of the novel coronavirus were presenting themselves in Wuhan. The COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on global markets will dwarf the...
Sophisticated and globally connected supply chains have made the movement of goods more efficient and accessible but, at the same time, susceptible to economic crisis and natural disasters such as the financial crisis in 2008 and the Asian Tsunami in 2011. While many...
Companies in diverse sectors, including consumer electronics, automobiles and automotive parts, pharmaceuticals, and apparel are warning they are mere weeks away from running out of production-critical supplies as Chinese factories shut down and cross-border commerce...
U.S. tariffs on imports from China consigned the traditional peak shipping season to the ghosts of Christmases past this year. The U.S.-China trade war pushed the U.S. import shipping volume trend line for 2019 to an early peak in July before driving TEUs [20-foot...
In the first half of this year, Descartes Datamyne trade data shows, the U.S. swung from net importer to exporter of methanol [HS290511], a basic petrochemical derived from natural gas. The trade surplus might have been more substantial had shipments to China not...
