A new report summarizing town halls convened by Farmers for Free Trade says the elimination of the steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada and Mexico “went a long way toward stabilizing these export markets,” and that grain prices have recovered, but that more free trade deals are critical to support farmers and rural economies. The report, released Dec. 15, was highlighted in a webinar.

Though TVs with the largest screen sizes maintained their dominance in the mix of October imports coming into the U.S., shipments skewed toward sets with screen sizes under 45 inches, according to Census Bureau data accessed Dec. 13 through the International Trade Commission’s DataWeb tool. October imports of laptops and tablets, meanwhile, continued their torrid growth trend, recording the category’s highest monthly volume in six years.

Chemicals are not among the top imports under the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program -- travel goods, jewelry, car parts, and lamps are -- but chemical distributors are still anxious that the program be renewed before it expires. Eric Byer, CEO of the National Association of Chemical Distributors, said in a phone interview that about 50% of his 250 members benefit from GSP tariff breaks. He said last time GSP expired, it took a couple of months to get reimbursed even after GSP was restored. He gave an example of a small company near Philadelphia that had to pay $250,000 in additional tariffs during the expiration, for a company that only had about 25 employees. Byer said citric acid is imported by many of his members, and if GSP expires, a 6% tariff will be applied to that citric acid coming from Thailand. Erin Getz, coordinator of governmental affairs for NACD, said 110 million pounds annually is imported from Thailand.

The Photronics display business in the fiscal fourth quarter “typically sees a slight seasonal decrease in demand,” but the normal seasonal decline in the quarter that ended Oct. 31 “was exacerbated by pockets of softness in some sectors, and a negative impact from U.S. trade sanctions against Huawei,” Chief Financial Officer John Jordan said on a Dec. 9 investor call. Photronics supplies photomasks to panel makers.

China's attempts at using economic tools, such as export controls on rare earth minerals or punishing imports from Australia, have only been somewhat successful, according to Maximilian Ernst, the speaker on the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies webinar Dec. 7, called “How to Respond to China’s Carrots and Sticks? Prospects of a Transatlantic Response to Chinese Economic Coercion.” Ernst is researching Chinese coercion for a Ph.D.

​​​​​Supply chain scholars disagreed on how likely companies are to move production out of China, either due to tariffs or to a desire to diversify sourcing, but agreed that companies aren't likely to be ready for demand shocks without government support. They spoke Dec. 4 during a webinar hosted by the Center for Global Development.

Amadeus Capital Partners agreed to invest $7 million in Altana AI, “a start-up working with governments, global enterprises, and supply chain solutions providers to de-risk global supply chains,” the companies said in a news release. Altana customers “gain global supply chain visibility and risk intelligence through the Altana Atlas -- a shared artificial intelligence model of the global supply chain.”

Wireless home audio systems maker Sonos reported higher-than-expected revenue, an $18.4 million profit and growth in new households in Q4. Gross margin increased 530 basis points to 47.5% as the company was “largely exempt from tariffs,” except for a rate of 7.5% on component products in September and 25% on accessories throughout the quarter, Chief Financial Officer Brittany Bagley said on a Nov. 18 investor call. Adjusted EBITDA increased 22% to a record $109 million, including $32 million in tariffs, of which Sonos will receive a refund of about $30 million, which will largely mitigate the ongoing impact of tariffs in fiscal year 2021, she said. The company plans to have its production shift to Malaysia completed by summer as part of a plan to diversify manufacturing venues, Bagley said. Sonos system products revenue increased 17%, driven by strength in the installer channel, but the Amp and Arc products are supply constrained. The company is investing in expedited airfreight shipments to better meet demand but will continue to be low on stock on key products in the current quarter, Bagley said. It expects to be fully stocked across all products by the end of fiscal Q2. Sonos doesn’t provide quarterly guidance, but it expects the holiday quarter to contribute “slightly less total revenue” as a percentage of the total fiscal year than last year, Bagley said. She said supply chain constraints are “a broader industry wide challenge” that aren't unique to Sonos. The company is feeling impacts from component and container availability, port congestion, and higher shipping and logistics costs.

C.H. Robinson “identified potential savings for its customers of roughly $980 million related to exclusion refunds” since the first Section 301 tariffs were put in place in 2018, the company said in a recent news release. Some 96% of those are “product-specific which require a more complex, time-consuming analysis for qualification,” it said. “The U.S.-China trade war has added another layer of complexity to what has been a challenging global transportation market over the past year,” said Mike Short, president of global forwarding at C.H. Robinson. “As we have consulted with businesses of all sizes, it’s clear that the biggest barriers to duty recovery for these companies are a lack of time, data, and expertise to navigate the complex and lengthy application process.” The last of the exclusions expire Dec. 31.

Twenty-three trade groups, led by the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States and Farmers for Free Trade, are asking U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to work harder to resolve the Airbus-Boeing dispute, and thus remove European Union retaliatory tariffs on distilled spirits, cheeses, potatoes, nuts, fruits, juices, chocolate, ketchup and agricultural equipment. These retaliatory tariffs are the second round on ag exports, as the EU put 25% tariffs on whiskey, orange juice, rice and sweet corn in 2018 over steel and aluminum tariffs imposed by the U.S. Some will rise to 50% next June, the groups said in a Nov. 18 letter.