After the United Steelworkers Union brought a case before the International Trade Commission(ITC), the US federal agency is recommending tariffs be placed on imported Chinese tires, reports the Finanical Times in the U.K. The Union stated a surge of imported of Chinese tires has affected domestic tire makers, causing an estimated 7,000 lost jobs. The recommendation from the ITC is to impose a $1.7 billion tariff on Chinese tires for the next 3 years.

The World Trade Organization acknowledged that some limits on trade may be needed to ensure it protects the environment, reports The Los Angeles Times.

There's been a lot of buzz in recent months about the "10+2" rule, which is planned to go into full effect on Jan. 26, 2010. The rule went into effect last January, taking a phase-in approach with enforcement. During the first 12 months, violators of the rule will only receive warnings. Beginning next year, fines will be issued of up to $5000 per violation. Importers must provide 10 sets of data before key milestones for U.S. bound shipments. In addition, importers must ensure that the ocean carrier provides an additional two sets of data prior to vessel arrival in the U.S. Some people may be hopeful that the Obama administration will offer a last-minute reprieve to the regulation, but according to Journal of Commerce, that's not going to happen.

Canada announced yesterday that they have signed a free trade agreement with Jordan. Trade between the two countries is approximately $92 billion CDN ($79.5 billion USD). This is the first trade agreement between Canada and an Arab nation.

I recently rediscovered a Best Buy gift card buried in the back of my wallet, probably hiding there since Christmas. I have determined the best way to spend it is on a shiny new flat screen TV. Frankly it's almost embarrassing when friends come over and see my 19" Cathode Ray TV/VCR combo. Until I pop in their favorite movie on VHS, that is.

Although RSS feeds are speedier, some still prefer the good old fashioned email update.

According to a recent study by Transparency International, just 4 of the 36 countries who signed the Anti-Bribery Convention of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) agreement actually enforce the bribery laws.

"Buy American" is quite a dividing sentiment. Some believe that it fosters expansion of industry within the US.

China and the US are airing their issues at the WTO the last day or two. Yesterday, the US and EU jointly filed a complaint that China violates international trade laws by curbing exports of certain raw materials such as antimony, bauxite, indium, yellow phosphorous, magnesium carbonate, and rare earths.

I don't want to get political on anyone, but this is Trade Agreements and part of international trade involves politics.

To follow up on yesterday's post about managing your third-party logistics provider, here's an article from Supply & Demand Chain Executive that brings up some good points on the type of relationship you should have with your 3PL: Why You Don't Want an Obedient 3PL. Collaboration is key for these type of relationships. Shippers should define key performance indicators to make sure goals are met, while at the same time giving their 3PLs enough operational freedom to offer up new ideas on how to make things run more efficiently.

A recent news report by the Confederation of India Industry predicts U.S. -India trade could increase by eight-fold in the next 10 years. As India's largest trade partner in trade, technology and investment (as well as service and economic growth through outsourcing, which brought in around $20 billion in trade in 2007), trade to and from the U.S. could grow to nearly $320 billion by 2018. Currently at $42 billion since 2007, trade has increased through tourism, logistics, telecom and entertainment.

A recent article at Nextgov reported that actually, it's quite easy to purchase sensitive military technology and send it abroad.

Boskage Trade News has a clever posting on their blog today on Import Compliance:

Manufacturers use third-party logistics providers (3PLs) to manage some or all of their supply chain functions. It is important for manufacturers to monitor what their 3PLs are doing, since those logistics providers generally have direct contact with both the final product and the customer base, and if either of those are handled carelessly, problems could ensue. In this Industry Week article, Dan Montgomery, VP of Business Development for APL Logistics gives several good tips manufacturers can use to effectively monitor their 3PLs: The Dos and Don'ts of Third-Party Logistics.

President Obama's proposed health care plan will present some new supply chain challenges to the medical industry if it goes into effect. One of the main goals of the President's plan is to "assure affordable, quality health coverage for all Americans." This would have a significant effect on the supply chains of medical companies. With more people receiving health care, the demand for medical devices and pharmaceuticals will go up. Health care companies must be able to handle this growth by expanding their supply chains as necessary, and ensure that operations are running as efficiently as possible, while keeping costs down. Logistics Management raises this point in their analysis of UPS's recent survey of health care professionals. Eighty-one percent of respondents said that they were highly concerned about managing costs and, according to the analysis, this is due to the pending health care legislation.

Today's economy has created the need for supply chain managers to evaluate their organization's balance between cost optimization and risk management. According to this Logistics Management article, written by associates at Accenture, there are now three areas of potential supply chain risk that should be of top concern to managers: vendor and supplier stability, product quality and safety, and demand forecasting. The authors believe that it's important for companies to re-visit and re-evaluate previously-established fundamental assumptions about risk. According to them:

According to the World Trade Interactive newsletter, the Mexico TPL-1 has been filled. TPL-1 concerns cotton and man made fiber apparel.This very helpful FAQ document from University of British Columbia's Supply Chain Management department is also useful in understanding what TPLs are and how they are used:

Even though most corporations have implemented cost-cutting measures in recent months, one trend remains prevalent. MFGWatch conducted a survey on more than 200 purchasing professionals and engineers in the manufacturing industry, and 69% said that in the past year they had maintained or grown sourcing. Here's Logistics Today's analysis of the survey results: 2008 Sourcing Needs Stayed Steady, 2009 Big Moves are on Hold

The Tennessee professor convicted of export control violations will be sentenced on July 1st.

Although posted in April 2008, Supply Chain Digest has a good article for anyone searching for a Trade Compliance Application: Five Surprises from a Trade Compliance Application. Most trade compliance experts know what they want to achieve with a new system - but this article does a good job differentiating what you need to prevent 'surprises' after you have started using the application, such as:

Do you consider yourself an expert in transportation or traffic? Your ideas could be worth $50,000. The Intelligent Transportation Society of America and IBM have teamed up to challenge anyone out there to submit their best ideas on how to reduce transportation congestion. The contest is open to anyone. Please go here to learn more or to submit an idea. And if you win, don't forget to mention the ITM Best Practices Blog in your acceptance speech!

Looking to broaden your knowledge of supply chain management? Go sign up for some classes at Penn State or Michigan State, as AMR Research recently ranked them among the top supply chain programs in the country. According to a Journal of Commerce report on the findings, other highlights included:

A report in International Freighting Weekly claims that certain forwarders have lowered their rates to un-necessarily low levels, in order to increase their market share. This can be problematic because it drives down margins for the entire industry, and makes it difficult for carriers to raise the revenue necessary to maintain their services. Meanwhile, the accused forwarders are claiming that the low rates are based solely on the fact that capacity is far exceeding supply. Are these forwarders playing dirty, or simply sticking with the concept of basic supply and demand economics? Check out the article here, and decide for yourself.

Ever since seeing Food Inc this week, I've been on a big organic kick. Yesterday I went on a quest at the mall for organic cotton clothing. Today I bought some organic (and sustainably grown) Torrontes.

For the first time in six years, U.S. logistics costs dropped last year, according to a report released this week by the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP). In 2008, total spending on U.S. logistics dropped $49 billion from what it was in 2007. In an article from Supply Chain Management Review, the author of the report gives some insight into what the findings mean for everyone:

Who are the world power houses? According to International Trade in Great Britain, that would be Russia and China, who are the world's largest energy consumers and producers. The two countries have proposed expanding its electricity power program to enhance energy security, in other words -- electricity trading.

The European Union is negotiating a trade pact with two West African regional groups and is hoping to complete the process by October 2009.

Discussions on the U.S. response to increase security by 45 percent after top officials talked openly to build stronger ties to the two countries have caused debate.

It's been a busy month for South Korea's international trade representatives!

To follow-up on yesterday's post about going green, here's an article from Lloyd's List that looks at measures shipping companies are taking to lessen their impact on the environment: Shipping and logistics firms in the driving seat. The article also gives some interesting stats from a study done by Cap Gemini and Georgia Tech regarding investments in green initiatives by logistics companies.

Citigroup and the World Bank announced Monday, June 15 that it will launch a $1.25 billion fund to help boost trade in emerging market economies. The funds will finance transactions in developing market banks in Asia, Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa to allow these banks to extend financing to domenstic importers and exporters.

Boskage Trade News has an interesting article covering disaster readiness for the trade compliance team:

I happened to find this article yesterday while brushing up on my Trade Agreements news -

One industry where having a well-managed supply chain may matter just a little bit more is the food and beverage industry. For grocery stores and restaurants who require fresh food to run their businesses properly, it's important that their supply chains are handled in the most efficient way possible. This article on SupplyChainBrain.com gives five basic steps organizations can take to overcome the common challenges associated with managing a fresh food supply chain: Transforming Your Fresh Food Supply Chain.

Here's an interesting post from the ARC Advisory Group's blog: 'A TMS is Too Expensive' and Other Excuses, for anyone who is trying to decide whether they need to invest in a transportation management system. Short answer: yes, you probably do. The article goes through a list of common reasons people give for not wanting to make the investment, and explains how most of these reasons are no longer valid or justified.

Logistics firm D.W. Morgan Company has gone green. They have eliminated the use of paper waybills, according to Logistics Today. The company developed and Apple iPhone application that enabled them to communicate shipment tracking reports and recipient signatures to their customer base. It is estimated that their paper consumption will be reduced by about 150,000 pages per year. This will also reduce the company's material and labor costs. Just something to consider, for anyone out there looking for ways to be a bit more environmentally conscience.

According to Aberdeen Group's new report - Inventory Management: 3 Keys to Freeing Working Capital - the top action companies have taken in response to the recession is inventory reduction. In the report, 91% of 137 executives surveyed indicated that they are re-evaluating inventory management, and 61% said that they are looking at inventory technology enhancements. The report gives three "steps to success" that companies can take to manage their inventory more efficiently: 1) Segment finished goods inventory based on financial performance. 2) Move away from "rule of thumb" inventory target settings. 3) Integrate inventory target settings into S&OP meetings.

Via ThanhnienNews.com - Chile and Vietnam are hoping to sign a free trade agreement soon.

According to the Korea Times, South Korea and the EU are getting closer to finalizing a free trade agreement.

Companies engaged in global trade must manage a tremendous amount of information to establish and maintain compliance with regulations. The challenge is that trade content is highly complex and ever-changing.

On Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the World Trade Organization's head, Pascal Lamy said he saw no improvement in global trade in 2009 compared to 2008, and confirmed his forcasted drop of 9 percent in international trade by volume.

Lately, there have been two big corporate trends we've been hearing a lot about. The first is to conserve the environment by "going green." The second, in light of current economic conditions, has been to re-evaluate spending, and cut costs where ever possible. One would not immediately think that these two things could go hand-in-hand. However, it is possible for both principles to be successfully applied to the supply chain. A more efficiently-run supply chain can lead to less waste, less fuel, and lower costs. This article from Industry Week discusses the idea of controlling supply chain costs through the synergies involved in being green: Can You Have a Lean-Green-Global Supply Chain?

Here's another feature article on Perry Ellis, who has been referenced in earlier posts. Prior to implementing a solution from Management Dynamics, Perry Ellis was manually auditing their freight bills, and significant over-charges were slipping through the cracks. According to their VP of Corporate Logistics:

What do you do when the times are tough? Work to boost your economy through trade. And, that's exactly what Canada and the European Union are proposing to discuss in October, rep0rts the Journal of Commerce.

In today's economy, corporations have been making an effort to cut costs in any way that they can. IT spending has apparently intercepted a large portion of these cuts. According to the 2009 Software Survey, done by Logistics Management, 41% of respondents reported scrutinizing every cent of a potential investment before committing, and 34% said that they were freezing all IT investment in 2009.

You can't mess with export controls, especially if you deal with sensitive technologies. Here’s an example of the consequences of export control violations: Atmospheric Glow Technologies and former University of Tennessee professor J. Reece Roth.

Will China work with the U.S. to improve its trade relations or be left out in the cold?

The global contract logistics market experienced a growth rate of 5% in 2008, according to Logistics Today. However this is a smaller growth rate than had been reported in previous years, signifying a notable weakening of the market.

Despite the recession, Apple has once again topped AMR's Top 25 Supply Chain list, followed by Dell, P&G, IBM, and Cisco Systems. AMR Research defines three broad principles that weigh into the ranking of these supply chains: supply management (manufacturing, logistics and sourcing), demand management (marketing, sales, and service), and product management (R&D, engineering and product development). An organization's overall rank was determined by how successful they are at achieving and integrating all three.

On June 2nd, the Journal of Commerce reported that the Mexican National Trucking Association is tired of waiting for the U.S. to reestablish its trucking program to enter in and out of the U.S.

Here's an intersting article that originally appeared in the very first issue of Supply Chain Management Review, back in 1997, and again in 2007: The 7 Principles of Supply Chain Management. The article, written by experts from Andersen Consulting (currently Accenture), starts out by giving seven tips on managing the supply chain, and then goes into detail on strategies companies can take to achieve those principles. It's a great read and provides some useful best practices, so go check it out!

Finally, some good news for container lines. The seasonal rise in cargo volumes is expected to raise transportation rates, according to Logistics Management. For shippers, this is both good and bad news. Although they will most likely face higher prices, the risk of shipping goods will be lowered as shipping companies become more stable, and less likely to go out of business. Please follow this link to read the full article.

AMR Research recently reported that the apparel industry is investing less on IT programs than it has in previous years, possibly due to the bad economy. The lack of spending is most prevalent in ERP systems, and in systems aimed at establishing and maintaining an end-to-end global supply chain. According to a report in Supply Chain Management Review, this indicates that companies in this industry do not respect the value and potential cost-savings of a well-run supply chain.

With the economic downturn, it is no secret that the transportation industry has been hit hard. This in turn presents a risky environment for the shippers whose businesses depend on those suffering transportation providers. The Journal of Commerce recently ran a story highlighting the risks that importers and exporters face when selecting a carrier. While it has always been important to try to find the best combination of cost and service when selecting a carrier, it is now becoming increasingly important to look at financial indicators and determine whether the shipping company is at risk for going bankrupt.

Recently, SupplyChainBrain.com reported on the results of a survey of executives from 140 companies in the U.S., Germany and Japan, done by Microsoft and Infosys. Some key findings of the survey are below:

With GM filing for bankruptcy today, looks like their plan to export cars from China will be one way in which they aim to make a comeback rather than prevent bankruptcy.