New Benefit Coming This January for C-TPAT

Members of the C-TPAT program have a new benefit coming their way this January, thanks to an agreement signed by U.S. and EU customs authorities. On May 4, customs officials representing the U.S. Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) program and the EU Authorized Economic Operator program signed an agreement to mutually recognize program members as…

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Seminar Sneak Peek: Bonded Warehouse vs. FTZ

Here’s a sneak peek at one of the handouts from our upcoming seminar,Effective duty deferral, avoidance, and recovery strategies. Making use of a bonded warehouse or foreign trade zone are two strategies that we will be covering during this seminar. Let’s compare: Bonded Warehouse (BW) vs. Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) Duty based on (BW) Value…

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LA/Long Beach Increase PierPass-Related Fee

The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will increase the Traffic Mitigation Fee by $1.50 per 20-foot equivalent unit (TEU) beginning on August 1. The increase will bring current fee levels to $61.50 (20' containers) and $123 (40' containers). Last August, marine terminal operators announced that they would begin increasing the Traffic Mitigation Fee…

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What’s Riding on US-Mexico Cross-Border Trucking Pilot

The cross-border trucking pilot program that allows designated Mexican carriers to make deliveries across the U.S. border is suffering from low participation, according to senior officials at the U.S. Department of Transportation. As of May 13, only three Mexican carriers, each consisting of single truck and driver, have made an underwhelming 35 trips across the…

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US-Colombia FTA Starter Kit

May 15, 2012 was a good day for U.S. exporters. It was the day the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement went into effect, giving thousands of exporters new trade opportunities available at reduced tariff rates. The Agreement gives duty-free status to over 80% of U.S. consumer and industrial goods exported to Colombia, with remaining tariffs eliminated…

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Reshoring: Weighing the Business Case

Much has been written recently about the phenomenon of reshoring, the practice of bringing offshored manufacturing and sourcing work back to the U.S from abroad. In fact, an entirely new and often confusing vocabulary has developed around this subject. Terms such as outsourcing, offshoring, reshoring, nearshoring, and even resourcing are freely tossed about in articles…

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C-TPAT for Exporters

It's official: U.S. Customs plans to open C-TPAT to exporters. At a recent trade conference in Newport, RI, a C-TPAT official revealed that Customs is planning on creating an export component to accompany the import based security program. (Source) Though still in its early stages, Customs is working towards the goal of establishing mutual recognition for…

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