World Trade Week

May 2022 is recognized as World Trade Month. World Trade Week, which occurs annually during the third full week of May, was first established in 1935 by President Roosevelt.

In celebration of world trade here are 10 fun trade facts.

1. The first major piece of legislation passed in the United States was the Tariff Act of 1789. The main purposes of this law were to protect our developing industries and to raise revenue.
2. The intermodal shipping container invented by Malcom McLean in 1956 revolutionized shipping and trade.  This invention greatly reduced costs in terms of labor and potential damage.
3. The most imported and exported products in the world by value are…Cars. Worldwide the trading of cars represents 4.9% of the total global export market.
4. The U.S Court of International Trade, in 2003, ruled that X-men action figures didn’t represent humans, but rather mutants. This distinction allowed for a tariff reduction from 12% to 6.8% on importations of X-Men action figures.
5. Only 14 countries are not active WTO members or in the process of joining the WTO. They are Aruba, Eritrea, Kiribati, Kosovo, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Monaco, Nauru, North Korea, Palau, Palestine, San Marino, Sint Maarten, and Tuvalu. 
6. The top 5 most counterfeit items (representing more than $2.9 billion) per CBP Seizures are: Apparel and Accessories, Handbags and Wallets, Footwear, Watches / Jewelry, Consumer Electronics.
7. An item taken from Outer Space will be considered as having the country of origin of the person or country that obtained it.
8. Switchblade knives are not permitted to be imported into the U.S. unless they are in the possession of someone who only has one arm, and the blade does not exceed 3 inches.
9. In 2022, 30 years after IBM developed the very first smart phone and 15 years after the first iPhone, the smart phone finally has its own HTS subheading (8517.13.)
10. The “Palmyrian Tariff” from the ancient city of Palmyra (137 AD), in present day Syria, defined the tariffs on imports and exports of certain goods, with inscriptions in both Greek and Aramaic.

Contributor: Matthew Dreckman

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About Allyn International

Allyn International is dedicated to providing high quality, customer centric services and solutions for the global marketplace. Allyn's core products include transportation management, logistics sourcing, freight forwarding, supply chain consulting, tax management and global trade compliance. Allyn clients range from small local businesses to Fortune 500 firms. Allyn conducts business in more than 20 languages and has extensive experience in both developed and emerging markets. Highly trained experts are positioned throughout North America, Europe and Asia and Allyn regional headquarters are strategically located in Fort Myers FL USA, Shanghai P.R. CHINA and Prague, CZECH REPUBLIC. For more information, go to www.allynintl.com.