Research Tips
Reports and World Outlook
EIU Reports. Start your research on a country's economy and politics with the following publications of the Economist Intelligence Unit. These reports are linked also on the library's Country pages.
Country Profiles - Outline on the economy and political environment. Updated weekly. Country Reports - In-depth report with analysis, trends, and forecasts. Updated monthly. Country Commerce - Reference guide to operating conditions and regulatory environment. Updated annually. Country Finance - Coverage of financial markets, including banking, investment, tax laws, equity and debt financing. Updated annually.
- World Investment Service - Risk analysis, business costs and other data on 60 global economies. Includes detailed database with flows of investment and M&A activity by country and by industry. Recommended.
- ISI Emerging Markets - This site provides current business and political news, economic reports and financial market data on emerging market countries.
Factiva is an excellent source for international news topics, including full-text coverage of the Economist and the Financial Times. It has worldwide coverage of English and non-English language newspapers and magazines, and extensive company information, European Union documents, and more. To access the latest news articles, click on the NEWS PAGES and look for the publication name.
globalEDGE - MSU's International Business Center (CIBER) offers this great free site with many links to trade leads and other international business information. Trade portal links include governmental, country, regional, and association links. Very highy recommended.
Office of the United States Trade Representative - Provides information on barriers to U.S. exports and direct investment and publishes its findings in the National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers ( HF1456.U53 Information Desk1, STAT USA, and on their web site). The following topics are covered for each country: - Import policies
- Government regulation and procurement
- Export subsidies
- Intellectual property protection
- Service and investment barriers
Source OECD is the on-line library of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. The OECD has 30 member countries with active relationships with 70 other countries. The OECD Economic Surveys are detailed annual economic reports with extensive statistical coverage on all member countries.
STAT-USA is the the web site of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Click on GLOBUS & NTDB for U.S. trade statistics, market reports and country research. Like the EIU Country Profile, the Country Commercial Guides are a good place to start for identifying important trade opportunities. There is a chapter on leading sectors for U.S. exports and investment. Trade Policy Reviews are published by the World Trade Organization. Each volume covers economic environment, trade policy regime, foreign direct investment and trade, trade policies and practice by measure and sector, and trade dispute and consultation. Recent titles include the Philippines, Nicaragua, Israel, and Egypt. HF1410.T73. Summary material is on the web site. The WTO's Annual Report has analysis of world trade, policy developments and WTO activities. For web version, go to the WTO web site and choose the tab called THE WTO, then Annual Publications, WTO Annual Report. For the print version, see the copy at HF1371.A56 (Reference). See also, the WTO legal texts, which give trade agreements and information on trade barriers and trade regulations. The Global Competitiveness Report has charts that rank countries by many criteria including openness to trade, finance, infrastructure, technology, management, and labor. Other charts include a table listing competitive advantage and disadvantage at the company and business level for each country. The profile section presents a balance sheet of each country's competitive assets and liabilities. HB238.G56 (Information Desk 1) United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) publishes a major analysis of the current situation and issues in the Trade and Development Report. Data is primarily global and regional statistics. HF1008.T7 (Reference) World Bank eLibrary is an excellent source for current, in-depth reports on developing markets. See also the World Bank web site for a lot of free information on investing in emerging markets; in the left hand menu choose "Resources for Businesses."
Periodicals
The following journals have articles and statistics on countries and regions, companies and industries, and global trends. Browse recent issues in the Current Periodicals area or search for them online through library subscription databases.
Journal of World Business, full text on Ebscohost.
Intereconomics: Review of International Trade and Development. Published by the Hamburg Institute for Economic Research. Horn Library and full text on Proquest.
International Trade Reporter. A weekly publication of the Bureau of National Affairs, available on LexisNexis [bna;intrad] and selected articles on the BNA web site. An excellent source for current news on political, industry, and trade policies worldwide. In addition to articles, the periodical includes the text of major government documents and a list of new congressional bills and resolutions.
OECD Observer. Published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Horn Library and full text on Proquest. The World Economy. Scholarly articles including bibliographies. Horn Library and full text on Ebscohost.
Trade Statistics
Euromonitor GMID Provides macroeconomic and consumer market data. Look at this resource if your project involves trade between countries outside of the United States. The database provides 20 years of historical data and 5 years of forecast data for most series. Download your information into word or excel. WDI Online provides World Development Indicators from the World Bank. This database includes social, economic, financial, natural resource, and environmental indicators from 1960 until the present.
International Financial Statistics (IFS) Published by the International Monetary Fund since 1948, IFS is a standard source of international economic and financial data. It provides 32,000 time series on 200 countries. For a detailed economic snapshot with time series data, look under PDF files in the left hand column for "Country Tables." Also, search fand download data in annual, quarterly and monthly series. Annual data back to 1948 and quarterly and monthly series back to 1957.
***USA Trade Online*** This is the most up-to-date source for US export and import data. It includes data at the port level, for all major US ports of entry /exit. Data is organized by harmonized tariff number. Build a table and download data into excel.
Source OECD
In addition to the great reports and quick tables listed under "At a Glance", click on the "Statistics" tab on the top toolbar, and then the "OECD Database" link in the left hand menu. Scroll down the list to the "ITCS International Trade by Commodity" link. Provides import and export data by country and commodity. As long as an OECD country is one of the partners, the database will include figures for countries outside of the OECD.
The International Trade Statistics Yearbook is published by the United Nations. Volume 1 has imports by broad economic categories and exports by industrial origin, trade by principal countries of production, and imports and exports by SITC commodity code. Volume 2 is arranged by SITC commodity code with lists of countries and their import/export figures. HF91.U473 (Information Desk1) The United Nations' Monthly Bulletin of Statistics covers population, labor force, forestry, industrial production, mining, manufacturing, electricity, external trade, transportation, prices and finance. Horn Library only.
The UN also publishes the World Trade Annual. This source provides the greatest level of detail for trade between particular countries. Each volume covers a range of products and is arranged by SITC number. The first half of the volume has import data; the second has exports. For each country, trading partners are listed with value and or quantity of trade. HF53.W6 (Reference)
Crossborder Monitor Indicators of Market Size for 115 Countries. This is a seven-page chart arranged by country with statistics on population, GDP, total imports and exports, and imports from the U.S., Japan and European Union. HC59.I544 (Information Desk1)
Direction of Trade Statistics Yearbook, published by the International Monetary Fund. Total trade import and export dollars between the specified country and a long list of trading partners. HA13.D52
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) The United Nations provides worldwide data on countries and regions, without emphasizing a particular country of origin; for this reason, it is a source of data for two countries not necessarily including the United States. Some of the data is available at no charge. See the "Statistics" tab on the opening menu, and then "Statistics in Brief" for several interesting reports on international trade, commodities, and foreign direct investment. See the UNCTAD-TRAINS link for imports and tariff line information by country of origin under the Harmonized 6 digit system for over 130 countries. The World Trade Organization provides a downloadable version of its International Trade Statistics. See THE WTO tab on the main page, and then choose Annual Publications, International Trade Statistics.
U.S. Goverment Agencies
US Bureau of the Census - On the home page, look in the Business section for the link to Foreign Trade.
US Department of State - Click on Major Publications. The Country Reports on Economic and Trade Policy include economic indicators, policy framework, and barriers to U.S. exports.
US International Trade Administration - The International Trade Administration provides information and assistance to U.S. companies entering the global marketplace. Click on Trade Statistics or the Trade Information Center.
US International Trade Commission - The U.S. International Trade Commission site provides news releases, status reports on their investigations into trade practises, and USITC reports (International Economic Review and Industry, Trade and Technology Review). Click on Information Center and Trade Resources for links to external web sites arranged by industry, region, data, legal, trade assistance, and economic development. See Tariff Affairs below to find out about USITC tariff rates, import quotas, and trade statistics.
US Bureau of Customs & Border Protection - The United States Customs Service works in conjunction with other government agencies to enforce laws and regulations for imported goods. These agencies include the Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Click on Import on the toolbar for reports and procedures related to importing goods and services into the United States.
International Organizations
Market Access Database - A service provided by the European Commission. In depth analysis can be be found in the Sectoral and Trade Barriers Database. Over 40 countries that trade with the European Union are covered. Some industry sector reports may focus predominantly on general features of trade policy. Unfortunately, access to the Tariff Databases is restricted to users connecting from the EU member states.
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation - The goal of APEC is to encourage trade and economic cooperation among the members, including China, Japan, Canada, United States, Mexico, Chile, and many other Pacific Rim countries. The home page has links to brief economic profiles that vary in content, but good trade figures are available for some countries. The APEC Tariff Database is searchable by Chapter, Harmonized System Code or Heading, Alphabetic Heading Listing, or Description.
U.S. International Trade Commission - Tariff Schedule
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS) - The HTS provides tariff rates and statistical categories for all merchandise imported into the United States. The schedule is based on the international Harmonized System, the global classification system that is used to describe most world trade in goods.
The Schedule arranges product codes in a numeric hierarchy. The first 2 digits correspond to a chapter in the Schedule. The web site has links to PDF reports for each chapter. For example: Chapter 9 - Coffee, tea, mate and spices
Code 0901 - Coffee
Code 0901.12.00 - Coffee,roasted. Not decaffeinated.
Details on import quotas can be found within the charts of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule or in notes to the chapter. Be aware that not all notes are created equal! Chapters have several kinds: Notes, U.S. Notes, and Additional U.S. Notes. Near the end of the Customs report described below there are lists of commodities with citations that tell you where quotas are mentioned in the Schedule. For example, 4 AUSN 5 stands for Chapter 4, Additional U.S. Note 5. Interactive Tariff Database Further down on the Tariff Affairs page is the Interactive Tariff Database. Enter all or part of the tariff code and click List items. Verify the product to view and click Details. This displays a chart showing total imports and detailed tariff information. At the top of the page are links to imports by country and other groupings. USITC DataWeb - ITC Trade DataWeb: Create a new account to register a username and password before using this site. Use this feature to create custom reports of trade statistics. Pay careful attention to the options on three screens of selection criteria.
- The Tariff Database brings you to the same search and report feature as the Interactive Tariff Database described above.
- Click on U.S. trade by Partner Country for a list of imports, exports, and trade balance for over 200 countries that trade with the U.S.
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