The world stage is not just a platform for the big boys anymore—clearly globalization is becoming a central issue and opportunity to businesses of all sizes. Not only do businesses seek new markets for their goods, but they also search the world for suppliers and strategic partners. For companies conducting business from or with the United States, this resource from the United States International Trade Commission can be a key research tool.
The USITC Trade DataWeb is a menu-driven wizard for creating queries about current or historical U.S. trade by country and product. The wizard allows searching by HTS (Harmonized Tariff Schedule), SIC Code, SITC Code, or NAIC Code. (If you are unsure of where to start, the USITC site has an end use description lookup page.)
Once you choose a product list, you can drill down to specific products (such as footwear) from larger categories options (such as leather and allied products), or aggregate data at a higher level (manufacturing).
Several types of trade data reports are available, including Customs Value, Dutiable Value, Calculated Duties, and Import Charges. Choose the trade data type, the time period, and a product list. From there, select an individual country or group of countries or standard country groups, such as Asia or EU15. Alternatively, you may define a country group, or select multiple countries to report on individually, or aggregate all imports/exports from all countries.
You can sort output by data type or restrict it to display the top n values. Output data may be pulled into spreadsheets. Queries and customized product lists may be saved for later use.
Note: It's necessary to create an account with a user name and password before you begin your search, but all data is free of charge.