Our colleagues Matthew Lewis, Matthew Kirk, and Robert MacLean have prepared another in-depth analysis of the current status of Brexit.  You can read and download the full update here. The range of options, and timescales, days after the UK should have left the EU, remains as wide as ever. We are still some way from knowing what future trading relationships will look like. Any final “no deal” preparatory steps should be taken between now and 12 April –…

According to recent WSJ reporting , immigration issues at the Mexico-US border are disrupting commercial trade, as US Customs and Border Patrol agents who typically handle trade traffic have been redirected to migrant issues. This redistribution of resources has reportedly caused a pile up of truck traffic and delay of inspections for agricultural and automotive components. This has reportedly resulted in an estimated tens of millions of dollars in losses for supply chain partners. Who…

US beef companies shipping to Japan likely will have to pay higher tariffs beginning in May due to the United States’ rejection of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). To protect its own beef industry, Japan increases tariffs on frozen beef imports if import volumes pass a certain threshold, which Japan is now approaching. However, Japan exempts CPTPP members from the tariff increases. Hence, most major beef exporters to Japan, such as…

The UK is scheduled to leave the EU on March 29, 2019, but so far the UK has failed to ratify a Withdrawal Agreement.  Whether the UK will leave with or without a deal remains unclear, and the analysis changes on a near-daily basis.  Regardless of outcome, however, the nature of the UK’s future trading relationship with the EU will need to be determined in a relatively short period, and the product of those negotiations will form the basis of the UK’s future…

The UK is scheduled to leave the EU on March 29, 2019.  At this time, however, the UK has failed to ratify a Withdrawal Agreement, risking a “no-deal” exit.  Whether the UK will leave with or without a deal remains unclear, and the analysis changes on a near-daily basis.  Regardless of outcome, however, the nature of the UK’s future trading relationship with the EU will need to be determined in a relatively short period, and the product of those negotiations will form the basis…

On December 18, 2018, the Senate unanimously passed a bill which would create a council responsible for addressing federal supply chain security. Because the bill was not presented for a vote in the House of Representatives, it will begin the legislative process again in the current Congress. The Senate bill provided for the establishment of the Federal Acquisition Supply Chain Security Council, which would be comprised of a number of individuals from different departments and agencies. The council would…

The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), a free trade agreement, went into effect on December 30, 2018 for six countries: Australia; Canada; Japan; Mexico; New Zealand; and Singapore.  The CPTPP became effective for Vietnam on January 14, 2019, and four additional countries (Brunei, Chile, Malaysia and Peru) plan to ratify and enact the Agreement.  Combined, the eleven member countries’ economies represent over 13% of the global GDP. The CPTPP, a version of the Trans-Pacific Partnership reworked following the United…