Stories related to: imports

Switzerland faces a potato shortage just weeks before hundreds of thousands of famished European soccer fans descend on the country expecting to snack on French fries. The nation, which is co-hosting the upcoming international soccer tournament Euro 2008, is mashing the pending crisis by lifting trade barriers to import 5,000 tons of extra spuds, reports Der Spiegel. More »

For used-car shoppers in Mexico, 1998 is about to become a very popular year. Starting today, only 10-year-old cars—nothing newer, nothing older—can be imported in Mexico, a move designed to curtail the flood of “vehiculos chatarra,” or jalopies, clogging the streets. Before the change, imports needed to be 10-15 years old, to lessen competition with Mexican car dealers. More »

America's food imports from China are rising and the Food and Drug Administration is planning to start exporting American inspectors to protect the US food supply, Reuters reports. FDA officials hope to open a China office to help them raise food safety standards and to make it easier to act quickly when problems arise. Such an operation would allow a "boots on the ground" response, explained the agency's commissioner. More »

After years of pumping out cheap consumer goods, China is driving up American price tags, the New York Times reports. As costs rise domestically, prices down the supply chain rise at the same time that recession threatens in the US. “China has been the world’s factory,” said one economist. “But its heyday is over. We’re going to see higher prices.” More »

The trade deficit widened 9.3% to $63.1 billion in November, despite a healthy growth in exports. With the dollar down, and demand for US goods rising in Asia and Latin America, exports moved at a healthy clip. But spending on imported oil overshadowed everything else, Bloomberg reports. “It comes down to three things: oil, oil, and oil,” said one economist. More »

Chinese companies linked to the People’s Liberation Army were cleared to import sensitive high-tech equipment from the US after the Bush administration eased restrictions blocking the sale of technology with military applications, the New York Times reports. One company has ties to arms sales to Iran and Syria, claims a report by the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control. More »

A Florida orange juice producer is starting an ad campaign to put the squeeze on imported citrus. The campaign by Florida's Natural is aimed primarily at major juice makers such Tropicana and Minute Maid, which rely heavily on Mexico and Brazil for oranges, the Orlando Sentinel reports. The latter nation replaced Florida in recent years as the world's orange king. More »

The White House is set to roll out stiffer safety regulations governing imports today, reports the Wall Street Journal . The proposals, prompted by the wave of recalls this year, represent a move toward what the Journal calls "a prevention-based regulatory system that targets the riskiest products." The FDA could require manufacturers to take precautionary measures, certify that they meet standards, and provide more data. More »

The federal Food and Drug Administration's spotty record inspecting foreign drug manufacturers will be even worse next year as its budget drops just as developing countries are flooding the market with new medications, reports the Washington Post . Foreign drug plants are inspected only once every eight to 12 years because of budget restrictions, as opposed to every two years required for American makers. More »

A drop in cargo at US ports has stunned analysts, who call the 1.4% fall more evidence of a stalled economy. A few factors are keeping foreign cargo at bay—the low dollar, wary buyers, and a cool housing market among them—yet observers still expressed shock. "When I first saw these numbers, I asked if they had left a column out of the spreadsheet," said one. "I thought it was a typo." More »

The US trade gap—the difference in total value between imports and exports—dropped to a 3-year low in July as exports jumped on a weak dollar and growing overseas demand. The figure fell 0.3% to $59.2 billion, roughly on par with the estimate economists surveyed by Bloomberg foresaw. Said one analyst, “the broad outlook for trade looks quite positive.” More »

China got off the latest shot in the war over substandard imports, reporting today it had found tiny worms in wooden packaging and substandard vitamins and children’s fish oil imported from the US. Simultaneously, China unveiled a wide-ranging recall system for its own exports that requires manufacturers to stop production and sales when defects are discovered, Reuters reports. More »

China's trade surplus surged to a record $26.9B in June, an 87% increase since last year. Economists attribute the trade gap to China's significantly—as much as 40%—underpriced currency, the yuan, reports Bloomberg. Half of China's surplus is with the US, which recently began preparing legislation to sanction countries that deliberately use a weakened currency to gain an unfair advantage. More »

The Chinese government acknowledged today what people around the world suspected—many products manufactured by the world's largest exporter of consumer goods are unsafe. One-fifth of its manufactured wares fail to meet government safety standards, a regulatory agency said in a posting on its website. Despite the findings, which did not cover exports, spokesmen continue to tout Chinese product safety. More »

Add farmed seafood to the list of unsafe goods imported from China. The FDA will detain three varieties of fish as well as shrimp and eel, the agency said today, after tests revealed the presence of antibiotics and antifungals that aren't approved in the US for use in aquaculture. The level of contamination and risk to consumers are low. More »

The EU is about to ban cat and dog fur imports, in a bid to stop the trade in pet pelts in China, where the way the animals are slaughtered is called "horrific." The fur is used as lining in boots and gloves, in stuffed toys, and in coats marked as everything from rabbit to Asian jackal. More »