A first reaction to the announcement on May 13th that China, Japan and South Korea are to open talks on establishing a trilateral free-trade area is to shrug. The idea has been around for a decade. There are many obstacles to its realisation. And not so much as a date has been announced for the talks to begin.
Despite the St. Lawrence Seaway being a seasonal inland waterway, the maritime route provides an essential transportation service insofar as the economical movement of bulk freight is concerned. While extended length ships of 1200-feet sail the Upper Great Lakes of Lakes Michigan, Superior, Huron and Erie, only Seaway-max ships of 600-feet length sail into Lake Ontario.
Six years after it was signed, the U.S.-Colombia free-trade agreement has taken effect, giving the U.S. economy a shot in the arm. Tell us again why this pact was a bad thing?
Is Wal-Mart's alleged bribery in Mexico an anomaly, or is it more typical of multinational behavior than many corporate executives would like to admit? Is the practice of bribing public officials ever justifiable from an economic or ethical point of view? And apart from collapsing share prices and shareholder lawsuits, what are some of the other possible consequences of bribing foreign officials?
U.S. import shipment volume for April, measured in TEUs, increased 9.2% from March and 7.2% from April of 2011, according to Zepol Corporation, a trade intelligence company.
Standard and Poor's Ratings Services said that its baseline forecast for U.S. regions varies but is generally positive, in a forecast published on RatingsDirect on the Global Credit Portal.
The decision by the U.S. and the European Union to recognize each other's trusted shippers is expected to save those companies money through speedier customs authorization.
President Obama issued May 1 an executive order that aims to foster international trade by promoting greater cooperation with other countries on the development and implementation of regulations that affect global commerce. The order notes that foreign regulatory approaches may differ from those taken by U.S. agencies and that in some cases the differences might be unnecessary and impair the ability of U.S. businesses to export and compete internationally.
Europe's leading network carriers, represented by the Association of European Airlines (AEA), are urging U.S. regulators to fully recognise European air cargo security standards and accelerate progress towards a mutual recognition agreement.
More than a third of U.S.-based manufacturing executives at companies with sales greater than $1bn are planning to bring back production to the United States from China or are considering it, according to a new survey by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
