Supply Chain

Halted Strikes on Iran Today could have been a day of war escalation. President Trump posted on Truth Social that there was a military attack on Iran scheduled, but he held it off at the request [...]

The Trump Administration is moving forward with a new 25% tariff on European Union (EU) automobiles. However, there are still some indications this tariff threat is to pressure the EU to follow [...]

U.S. Started Assisting Ships to Cross the Strait of Hormuz this Week While Star Wars nerds, like me, were saying “May the 4th be with you,” family and friends of crew members and [...]

Ocean freight rates have been elevated since the start of the Iran War. However, as we’ve covered in Universal Cargo’s blog, international shipping’s capacity is not stretched [...]

While the Trump Administration was at its height of unleashing new tariffs and tariff hikes last year, the toy industry saw sales growth. The way the industry handled imports, tariffs, and their [...]

It’s time to look at what’s happening with freight rates. Whenever there’s a disaster, crisis, or disruption to a major shipping hub, freight rates are impacted. Usually, that [...]

Summit Delay Request Many refer to the current trade deal with China as a trade truce. Shippers would be forgiven for thinking of it as tenuous after the tension of escalating tariffs of trade [...]

Immediately after the Supreme Court struck down President Trump’s tariffs based on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), the president shifted to Section 122 of the Trade [...]

Trump Orders Government to Cover Persian Gulf Shipping In Tuesday’s blog about the impacts of the Iran War on international shipping, we brought up insurance, specifically marine insurers [...]

This is a guest post by Luke Crihfield. For manufacturers, inventory efficiency means keeping production moving without parking too much cash in extra stock. It is the balance between cost and [...]

This is a guest post by Ellie Gabel. Many overseas shipments stall before leaving the factory. Oftentimes, it is due to supplier gaps, which cause costly delays and forced rework. Whether it is a [...]

The blog this week is all about catching up on the trade deals that happened last week (and one from the week prior). On Tuesday, we covered the trade deal the Trump Administration made at the [...]

This is a guest post by Dave Brobey. In every part of doing business, one can expect to find costs that seem to appear right out of nowhere. They’ll hide in contracts, invoices, and polite [...]

This is a guest post by Ellie Gabel. Because of China’s enormous supplier base, well-developed logistics network and production expertise, it has been the centerpiece of global supply [...]

This is a guest post by Jeremy Poole. Imagine customs officers yawning behind their screens. Or a single email halting a whole continent, contracts freezing in midair, containers waiting in salt [...]

Here we go again. We have a government shutdown as Democrats, wanting to show strong opposition to the Trump Administration, refuse to pass the Republican-led spending bill that would keep the [...]

A cyclone shut down operations at ports and airports in Southern China and Hong Kong the last couple days, likely causing up to a week (in some cases possibly more) in delays for shippers [...]

This is a guest post by Jake Cavanaugh. A shipment misses its deadline. Customs flags the wrong forms. A truck arrives at the wrong warehouse dock. These things don’t just happen in theory. They [...]

President Trump's latest round of tariff hikes go into effect this week, on August 7th. In this post, we round up all the new tariff rates on U.S. imports by country (ordered alphabetically). [...]

This is a guest post by John Stockton. The times, yes, they are a-changin’. The terms of global trade have also changed – the tone of boardroom conversations has become slightly different, and [...]