Kahala Posts Group (KPG) Awards Global Trade Management Contract to Amber Road

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Colleen Bush

Amber Road, a leading provider of global trade management (GTM) solutions, today announced it has been selected by the Kahala Posts Group (KPG), an alliance of 10 postal administrations around the world, to increase their competitiveness in the international delivery market. KPG member organizations include the Australian Postal Corporation, China Post Group, Correos y Telegrafos SAE, Groupe La Poste, Hongkong Post, Japan Post Co., Ltd., Korea Post, Royal Mail Group, Ltd, Singapore Post Limited and the U.S. Postal Service.

In the agreement signed with the International Post Corporation (IPC) Group acting on behalf of KPG, Amber Road’s GTM solutions will help KPG members by enabling them to offer additional international trade tools and services to their customers.

Click here to read the entire press release.

Take Advantage of Free Trade Agreement Benefits

Posted on April 23, 2013 by marketing

Manufacturers can spend almost 50 percent of revenue on purchasing parts alone, which places low-cost sourcing at the top of any business strategy. To maximize your company’s savings, look no further than free trade agreements (FTAs).

FTAs allow your company to source from countries that have agreed to reduce their export duties with whatever country you are trading from, in turn reducing your landed costs.

Navigating these agreements can be tricky, however. You’ll often need a certificate of origin, as well as a Trade Program certificate, to prove a claim. You may also want the ability to compare your potential savings from several vendors as part of a multi-sourcing strategy. Lost already? Check out these 5 tips for using FTAs in your supply network, from Amber Road’s VP of Global Trade Content Anthony Hardenburgh.

“Armed with the right process and supporting technology, your company can achieve the next level of low cost country sourcing in your global operation,” Hardenburgh notes. Indeed, automating the FTA process can reward your company with significant savings and save you more than a few documentation headaches.

Has your organization taken advantage of an FTA to reduce your landed cost?

U.S.-Brazil trade to strengthen

Posted on March 22, 2013 by marketing

Brazil and the United States made significant strides to bolster the economic relationship between the two countries at the eighth meeting of the U.S.-Brazil CEO forum, which was held this week in Brasilia.

“It is clear that both the Obama and Rousseff administrations recognize that our two countries must continue to build on the strength of U.S.-Brazil economic relations,” said U.S. Deputy Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank said in a statement.

At the forum, representatives from both countries heard from private sector leaders on how they could help business in both nations succeed. The recommendations ranged from tax issues, to cooperation on infrastructure, to educational exchanges.

Trade between the U.S. and Brazil has skyrocketed in recent years – exports to Brazil totaled $65 billion in 2011, and the U.S. is Brazil’s largest source of imports. However, doing business in Brazil requires intimate knowledge of the local environment, known as the “Custo Brasil,” and infrastructure limitations pose a logistical challenge.

The Consul General of Brazil, Luiz Felipe de Seixas Correa, will be speaking on these trade issues at Amber Road’s free Retail Seminar, “Financial Returns in Global Trade,” on April 17 at the Gansevoort Park Avenue Hotel in New York City. Aside from hearing a top expert discuss trade with Brazil, you can learn new strategies for delivering financial returns on your global supply chain and network with your peers at the beautiful Gansevoort Hotel.

Retailers looking to learn how to improve their global trade operations should register here!

New Analyst Report: American Shipper’s 2013 Global Trade Management Landscape

Posted on March 8, 2013 by marketing

American Shipper’s newest report, Global Trade Management Landscape: Strategies Beyond Compliance, provides an in-depth analysis of the trends, challenges and complexities that are reshaping global trade.

This report explores and provides remedies to challenges that are universal to GTM professionals, including:

Gaining visibility beyond basic track-and-trace functionality
Leveraging financial tools to create bottom-line benefits from GTM
Recruiting, educating and retaining expert GTM practitioners
Balancing the process management and technology sides of GTM
Ensuring global compliance requirements are met

Click here to download the analyst report.

US, EU Look to Boost Economies with Trade Pact

Posted on December 14, 2012 by marketing

After years of trade disputes, US and European Union officials are considering a drastic change in direction: a US-EU trade pact. It would be the world’s largest trade agreement, and could give a significant boost to both struggling economies.

Negotiations are still in the preliminary stages, and both sides will have much to overcome — including differences on agriculture, food safety, and climate change legislation — but top EU and US officials insist they want to see the pact happen. Even America’s main labor group, the AFL-CIO, which usually opposes such trade pacts, said it wouldn’t interfere with this one. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also appears to be in support of the trade agreement:

If we get this right, an agreement that opens markets and liberalizes trade would shore up our global competitiveness for the next century, creating jobs and generating hundreds of billions of dollars for our economies.

Labor unions in the States have tried to discourage huge trade agreements ever since the politically fraught debate over the passing of NAFTA in 1991, arguing that starkly lower wages and lax environmental regulations in certain countries would place American workers at a competitive disadvantage. Those issues don’t seem as pressing in deals with the EU.

Big business in the US appears to give similar support.

However, negotiators do not have an easy path ahead. The most recent dispute concerns EU’s carbon trading scheme, which could penalize American airlines that don’t meet EU standards. Intellectual property laws and food safety regulations also differ broadly across the Atlantic, as do agricultural restrictions on the use of genetically modified foods in Europe.

Enthusiasm seems to be the most common factor across these economies right now. Where do you think these negotiations will lead?

US-Led Trans-Pacific Partnership May Have Chinese Competition

Posted on December 5, 2012 by marketing

The Obama administration is looking to finalize its much-anticipated Trans-Pacific Partnership, an 11-nation regional trade agreement that, if successful, will expand American exports and economic influence in Asia.

As we noted previously, the TPP is still facing many challenges as negotiations draw to a close. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations recently unveiled plans for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which would be the world’s largest-ever regional trade agreement.

The partnership includes ASEAN’s 10 member states as well as Australia, China, Japan, India, South Korea and New Zealand. Its creation raises several questions for the future of the TPP – namely, can the US-led agreement thrive alongside Asian-organized, competing trading blocs, especially if those blocs include China and exclude the US?

Some believe that competing pro-China and pro-US treaties may escalate current economic tension in the region, rather than alleviating it. The potential conflict also presents an especially tricky situation for Australia, whom the US sees as playing a key role in nurturing American economic activity in Asia.

US-Panama FTA to Take Effect in Early November

Posted on October 9, 2012 by marketing

The long anticipated US-Panama Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is expected to take effect in early November after years of delay. The agreement will immediately remove duties on 50% of US exports of agriculture and 86% of US exports of automobiles, electrical equipment, and pharmaceutical goods. This FTA will be a huge step for both countries as the US is Panama’s largest trading partner and roughly 10% of US imports and exports pass through the Panama Canal.

Panama’s infrastructure and economy make the country a very attractive trading partner to the US. Panama is a growing ocean shipping and air cargo hub with a railroad and major highway that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. A $5.25 billion expansion of the Panama Canal is currently underway, which will double the canal in size. Panama also has an extremely strong financial sector, which the US will gain access to as a result of the FTA along with other areas of the service dominated economy including telecommunications, energy, and professional services.

The US-Panama FTA has seen many delays as it was originally negotiated under the administration of George W. Bush but was not approved by Congress before he left office in 2009. The agreement was finally approved in October 2011 after President Obama made several changes to the agreement. Panama’s National Assembly passed the final piece of legislation last week and is now waiting for Panama’s President Ricardo Martinelli to sign the legislation. The US is hoping that both countries will begin taking advantage of the agreement early next month.

For more information on the US-Panama FTA, please read:

Journal of Commerce, “US-Panama FTA Expected to Take Effect in November”

Reuters, “U.S., Panama to implement trade pact by early November”

Don’t Miss your Spot at the Fairmont!

Posted on September 17, 2012 by marketing

Time is running out to take advantage of Amber Road’s special rate at the beautiful Fairmont Hotel for eVOLVE 2012. Book by Wednesday, September 19 to receive our group rate of $299 a night. Don’t add a commute to your eVOLVE 2012 calendar—book today!

Click here for more information and to register for eVOLVE.

Trans-Pacific Partnership May Encounter Integration Issues

Posted on September 6, 2012 by marketing

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) began as a small trade agreement between four Pacific nations, but has evolved into a highly influential FTA that, at this stage of negotiation, involves 11 countries and has invited several others for inclusion. The agreement offers a range of benefits for all nations involved, but integrating the very different economies of East and West may be more difficult than expected.

The agreement, which includes nine Asia-Pacific countries, could yield $295 billion globally, including $78 billion for the United States, and its template should provide free trade gains of nearly $2 billion. The reason for the TPP’s anticipated success is also the reason that drafting the agreement may prove difficult, however. Asian FTA templates benefit emerging-market economies that seek market access for manufactured goods, whereas US trade templates concentrate on advantages for the services, investment and intellectual property sectors.

A report published by the Peterson Institute for International Economics investigated the discrepancies in 21 trade areas in Asian and US agreements, ranked for depth, capacity and enforcement. The report found divergences in policy, of course, but some interesting outliers like labor, cooperation and government procurement emerge as potential issues that could bog down negotiations.

Additionally, issues that concern politicians on both sides of the Pacific – like technology and small enterprise – have yet to earn high scores on either template, as The Economist points out. Look for the negotiations to tackle some tricky issues in the upcoming months.

eVOLVE 2012 Update: Eric Hirschhorn Announced as Keynote Speaker

Posted on August 23, 2012 by marketing

Under Secretary of the Bureau of Industry & Security Announced as Keynote Speaker at Amber Road’s User Conference

Amber Road is pleased to announce that Eric Hirschhorn, Under Secretary of the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), will be a keynote speaker at our annual user conference, eVOLVE 2012! He will be providing an update on export reform.

Other confirmed speakers include William McNeill (with the Gartner Group), and several Amber Road customers: Abercrombie & Fitch, GE Healthcare, General Mills, Leggett & Platt, Levi Strauss & Co., NetApp, New York University, Quantum Corporation, and Sherwin Williams.

eVOLVE 2012 will be a great opportunity for customers to learn about new product and service initiatives, exchange best practices with other users, and gain tips on how to maximize your GTM investment. Attendees will be able to choose from five different specialty tracks.

Click here for more information or to register. We look forward to seeing you in October!

GTM Best Practices

Resources for trade agreement news and analysis, and other GTM musings