What's Going on in North American Trade?

FAQ Section

What is tariff mitigation, and why is it a bigger focus now?

Tariff mitigation covers the specific tactics companies use to reduce the tariff cost of importing goods, from qualifying under a free trade agreement to adjusting sourcing locations or classification. Since tariff rates began shifting in early 2025, mitigation has moved from an occasional project to a standing part of sourcing decisions, because a rate change can move landed cost enough to affect where a company chooses to manufacture or source a product.

What is UFLPA compliance?

UFLPA compliance means meeting the requirements of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, the US law that presumes goods connected to Xinjiang, China, were made with forced labor unless an importer can prove otherwise. In practice, forced labor compliance now reaches well past that single law and past apparel, extending into semiconductors, minerals, and agricultural goods. Because the risk can sit several tiers deep in a supply chain, compliance teams increasingly rely on supplier and product data that reaches past the first-tier relationship, not just the direct supplier of record. 

What is the BIS 50 percent rule?

The BIS 50 percent rule extends restricted party screening beyond the parties named on the Entity List or other government watchlists like the Consolidated Screening List. Under the rule, a company owned 50 percent or more, in aggregate, by one or more listed parties is treated as if it were on that list itself, even if its own name never appears. Screening only against named entities misses this exposure, which is why restricted party screening software increasingly needs to model ownership structure, not just match names against a list. 

Why is free trade agreement (FTA) qualification getting more attention?

Since tariff rates began shifting in early 2025, more companies have looked to free trade agreements to offset rising costs. Qualifying goods for an FTA has always meant proving rules of origin and producing a certificate of origin for each shipment, and that documentation burden has not gotten easier. What has changed is the volume of qualification requests moving through supply chains, on both the importer side and the supplier side, which is pushing companies toward software that can manage rules of origin determinations at scale rather than case by case. 

What is a good way to start a trade compliance digital transformation project?

Start by documenting what already exists: the team, the process, the time each task takes, and the specific pain points, before evaluating any vendor. From there, choose one process, restricted party screening software is often the simplest starting point, and run it as a proof of concept rather than attempting a single large rollout. A working first phase gives a team evidence of time and cost saved, which builds the case for the next phase of automation.

Why are AI-generated RFPs creating more work for trade compliance teams?

AI tools make it easy to generate a long list of requirements, so RFPs have grown longer without necessarily becoming more precise. Some of the added length reflects genuine needs a buying team had not previously articulated. Some of it reflects generic requirements a model assumed a company in that industry should want. Vendors and buyers now need to sift through each RFP to separate real requirements from AI-generated padding before responding or scoring a piece of trade compliance software.