It’s a Trade war!

Brace yourself and invest in market data to secure your cross-border move.

A few months have passed since the new US trade tariff scheme was set up on foreign imports. One piece of evidence appears to emerge : in most cases, it is not foreign exporters who ‘price in’ higher tariffs, but instead, the US importers and consumers – to whom price increases are being passed on.

It may be useful to recall that it is buyers that dictate trade flows. So either US buyers badly need the products (eg. pharma., chips, minerals,..) and critical imports will be taxed more when entering the country. Or, US importers will no longer buy certain goods, look for cheaper alternatives, or possibly reconsider certain activities.

This will generate a variety of side effects on global trade which are difficult to predict, some of which are starting to affect industries such as automobile parts, steel & aluminum or the apparel & household items.

What can companies do (as diverse as they are) to protect themselves against this new instability risk? They can diversify into sub-sectors less exposed to trade tensions… Simple to say, but difficult to achieve.

As a start, companies can gather reliable information to anticipate changes and beat competitors in the race to approach new markets. 

‘Tips’ below are all available on the eexpand platform: 

• Extract Market reports data to confirm consumer trends, assess in-country manufacturing capacity by HS-coded products, consult our tariff tracking picture,

• Discover and leverage professional networks, industry associations and trade shows, to find local partners and uncover new opportunities,

• Take in regulatory content to manage the complexity of cross-border trade, from customs management to delivery tracking.

In a more fragmented and regionalized business world, agility and diversification will be key. Reliable data is at the source of this new mindset.