Trade News

Trade News
28
May
Euro area
The first estimates of euro area balance showed a €7.8 bn surplus in trade in goods with the rest of the world in March 2026, compared with +€34.1 bn in March 2025.
The euro area exports of goods to the rest of the world in March 2026 were €265.3 billion, a decrease of 5.5% compared with March 2025 (€280.6 bn).
Imports from the rest of the world stood at €257.4 bn, a rise of 4.4% compared with March 2025 (€246.5 bn).
In March 2026, the euro...
28
May
Exporters selling internationally often face a difficult balance: offering competitive payment terms while protecting their business from non-payment risk.
Factoring helps solve the cash flow challenge by advancing funds against unpaid invoices. However, exporters must choose between recourse factoring and non-recourse factoring.
Understanding the difference is essential for managing financial risk in global trade.
In a recourse factoring arrangement, the exporter remains responsible if the buyer fails to pay the invoice.
Here is how it works:
The exporter ships goods and issues an invoice.
The factor advances...
26
May
In this week’s Roar: Trans-Pacific rates hold steady, Europe’s negotiation with Iran, truckload rates jump, US indicts four Chinese container makers, and building an ethical beauty supply chain.
Data shows Trans-Pacific ocean freight rates have remained mostly flat lately, even as the industry moves into the traditional peak shipping season. While rates on major Asia–U.S. lanes are still up significantly since late February, much of the increase has been driven by capacity being limited by carriers and geopolitics as opposed to market demand....
22
May
Blog | Data show that countries are increasingly applying different import tariffs to different trading partners for the same product.
Click here to access the interactive chart
Since the WTO was established in 1995, no new multilateral trade agreement has been reached on import tariffs. Instead, we see a rise in trade policy fragmentation. This is reflected in the chart, where the downward-sloping lines show that non-discriminatory, or Most Favored Nation, tariffs explain a declining share of tariff variation. In other words, countries...
22
May
The Council decided today to suspend for one year customs tariffs on key nitrogen-based fertilisers used in agricultural production in the EU, including fertiliser inputs such as urea and ammonia.
The measure aims to lower costs for EU farmers and fertiliser industry – saving them an estimated €60 million in import duties, according to the European Commission. It will also reduce the EU's dependency on Russia and Belarus for fertiliser products and help build a more diversified trading network in this area.
"Today’s...
19
May
Highlights
The $549.5 million Perfectus Aluminum settlement is more than ten times larger than the previous record for a customs-related False Claims Act (FCA) resolution and the latest in a string of major cases involving Chinese imports.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)'s new Corporate Enforcement Policy creates a 120-day clock. Once a whistleblower reports internally, the company has 120 days to self-disclose or lose eligibility for a presumptive declination of prosecution.
A single customs fraud scheme can simultaneously...
19
May
Ambassador Jamieson Greer will host the G20 Trade Ministerial in Milwaukee, Wisconsin from Wednesday, September 30 to Thursday, October 1.
“President Trump’s tariff program is actively rebalancing global trade, reversing decades of non-market policies and practices to protect American workers and businesses,” said Ambassador Greer. “At the G20 Trade Ministerial this fall, USTR will lead discussions with the G20 Trade Ministers on a wide array of issues, including ending forced labor, updating the Most-Favored Nation (MFN) Principle, denouncing weaponization of trade...
18
May
This blog post is part of a special series based on the April 2026 Commodity Markets Outlook, a flagship report published by the World Bank Group. This series features concise summaries of commodity-specific sections extracted from the report.
The World Bank Group’s fertilizer price index rose more than 12 percent in 2026Q1 (q/q), marking its sixth increase in seven quarters. By April 2026, the index had reached its highest level since October 2022, driven mainly by export disruptions related to the closure...