UPS plans to close the Sandler Travis Trade Advisory Services headquarters in Southfield, Michigan, and cut 82 jobs, according to an April 4 report in Crain’s Detroit Business. UPS acquired the trade consultancy in 2017 (see 1712040023).
Ten trade groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Foreign Trade Council, the Express Association of America, the American Chemistry Council and the Coalition of Services Industries, are asking President Joe Biden to bring up businesses' concerns about changes to customs procedures, chemical regulations and digital services taxes.
Nuvocargo, a digital platform focused on U.S.-Mexico cross-border trade, launched a new customs brokerage product this week designed to streamline customs operations at the U.S.-Mexico border. The product is meant to “reduce complexity at the border by providing a single point of contact throughout the entire process,” the company said, and will “fully outsource supply chain management by combining freight, customs, and insurance products” with “software designed for” trade between the two countries. “The product captures 7 border-specific data points, including reception and review of documents, MX and US Customs clearance status, and Exam flags; a level of detail never before experienced in the market,” Nuvocargo said.
Three trade groups thanked U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai for starting consultations with Mexico over what they call "discriminatory policies" in the energy sector, but warned: "It appears that the administration of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador will not change the course of his country’s energy policy without continued, direct and forceful pressure from the U.S. government."
EFL Global acquired Trans American Customhouse Brokers, the buyer said in a Feb. 27 news release. The fully owned subsidiary of Sri Lanka’s Expolanka Holdings paid $42.5 million for a 100% equity interest in Trans American and its related companies, Sri Lanka’s Sunday Times reported.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and National Foreign Trade Council hailed the announcement of a Windsor Framework to break the impasse over how to trade between Northern Ireland and Ireland and how to trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, given Brexit.
Trade software developer WiseTech Global acquired Blume Global, a company that “manages intermodal containers and chassis on behalf of 6 of the 7 Class 1 US railroads, ocean carriers and other intermodal equipment providers including global freight forwarders and Beneficial Cargo Owners,” WiseTech announced in a Feb. 16 news release. The acquisition “further extends our capability in one of our six key [logistics execution software] CargoWise development priority areas, integrating rail into our landside logistics offering in North America, the most complex and largest logistics region in the world,” WiseTech CEO Richard White said.
The National Legal and Policy Center urged Apple shareholders to vote for a proposal appearing on their proxy ballots that would require Apple to file annual reports to the shareholders on the company's involvement with China. The recommendation came in a Proxy Memorandum sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission Feb. 14.
Wiley attorney Tim Brightbill, in a recent webinar on what to expect in trade in 2023, said he expects a bill to make significant changes to antidumping and countervailing duty law to be introduced in Congress soon. The bill, colloquially known as Level the Playing Field Act 2.0, was introduced in the previous Congress by Ohio's two senators. The administration expressed support for the proposal, but it faced skepticism among Republicans in Congress (see 2204220036 and 2104160037).
The U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council has done some excellent work in technology, according to EU and U.S. trade officials, but it needs to tackle the "trade" part of its mission more directly. A discussion on Making a More Meaningful TTC also included executives from two technology industry associations, who were somewhat less laudatory about its results so far.