Expanding access to manifest data from sources to include air cargo manifests and other transportation modes could provide the public and trade stakeholders with greater ability to ferret out forced labor in the supply chain, said Laura Murphy, senior associate with the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Human Rights Initiative, in a Dec. 8 blog post.
As Chinese auto manufacturers establish outposts in Mexico, U.S. importers will need to ensure that those Chinese manufacturers don't have ties to forced labor situations in the Xinjiang region, supply chain data visibility provider Kharon said in a recent brief.
Importers should brace for processing delays at the U.S.-Mexico border as a key component to recent reforms to Mexico's customs law go into effect (see 2511260062), freight forwarder and customs broker Livingston warns in a Dec. 5 update.
The development of artificial intelligence tools specifically aimed at facilitating trade and improving import and export compliance could potentially halve the global workforce dealing with these matters, said the head of WiseTech Global during the company's Global Investor Day on Dec. 3.
Data technology provider Kharon said CBP has expanded its agreement with the company for its global risk analytics platform to enforce the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act and other customs and trade laws, according to a Dec. 2 release.
KYG Trade's AI trade compliance assistant, Kay, passed the October 2025 customs brokers license exam, the company said in a Nov. 19 press release. The tool scored 93% on the exam, KYG said, while "one of the top general-purpose commercial LLMs" failed, scoring 60%. LLM stands for large language model, AI designed to process human language.
A think tank says a surgical modernization of CAFTA-DR is the best approach for the future of the free trade agreement, though allowing Central American countries or the Dominican Republic to join USMCA is another option.
United Autoworkers labor union members from John Deere and Caterpillar visited the Commerce Department last week, asking the agency to launch a Section 232 investigation on imports of heavy machinery and equipment.
The Coalition for a Prosperous America, whose first CEO joined the Office of Management and Budget as associate director for economic policy (see 2502240005), is calling for replacing USMCA with two bilateral trade agreements. The CPA submitted comments for the USMCA six-year review.
Software developer Descartes found that the majority of the 434 freight forwarders and customs brokers it surveyed globally are taking a wait-and-see approach to company growth amid worldwide macroeconomic uncertainties, according to the company's annual Forwarder/Broker Benchmark Study released this week.