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lthough it's debated on whether the world economy is actually growing again or if we are still in a recession, but one thing is clear, countries are still in need of aid in its trade.

Canadian Transportation & Logistics magazine's recent article, Seeing Red, discusses the trade relationship between the U.S. and Canada. With the new U.S. administration up and running, Canada has begun talks on how to build more transparency and establishing a more consistant preclearance reporting.

After posting yesterday on some of the issues the new 10+2 rule is creating for importers, I found this article in American Shipper that discusses some of the challenges specific to smaller importers: Reaching the Little Guy. Some major challenges are that many small businesses do not have representatives in foreign countries to track down the necessary information, they are hindered by working in different time zones, or they do now even know who the primary manufacturers are that are used by the buyers with whom they place their orders. I haven't seen this issue discussed a whole lot in the extensive press coverage on 10+2, but seeing as how small and medium-sized enterprises do make up a significant percentage of importers, it's definitely worth taking a look at.

It's challenging these days for small to mid-sized companies trying to compete with large scale enterprises. And, to make matters worse insurance companies are discouraging coverage for some of these companies, according to the Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC).

There is a lack of awareness in some small to mid-sized companies (SME) with the amount of tax planning for import duties. Because of this, there are a lot of missed opportunites to reduce company costs. According to Import Duties: Bend Me, Shape Me, Any Way You Want Me in CFO magazine this month, it discusses some key points for SMEs to reduce costs as an importer.

As discussed recently in some of my favorite blogs, Research Institutions need export compliance too!

In May, Journal of Commerce wrote an article, Compliance Applies Growth about the importance of compliance and HS classification. Many Global Trade Managment companies have seen a growth in business in this recession.

According to International Freighting Weekly, trade exports into Europe and the U.S. has dropped by 21 percent since the beginning of 2009. The Bureau of Economic Analysis reports, U.S. exports totaled $121.1billon in April, $2.8 billon less than in March. Imports also fell $2.2 billon from the March totaling of $152.5 billon.

Leaders will have greater flexibility to serve the needs of small to mid-sized companies under the Export-Import Bank of the United States Super Delegated Authority and Fast Track programs announced in its press release on Monday, June 8th.

In the last two posts, I summarized some key trends that formed in the GTM space in 2008. With the new year, I think it is appropriate to make a few predictions. The first is the rise of the SME. The Small Medium Enterprise? Not quite. Actually we see the larger market of exporters (and there are over 230,000 in the United States alone), the Small to Medium Sized Exporter start to invest in managing export compliance.