World Trade

Trade Deals Around the World is our monthly recurring update, which gives you a quick and easy overview of what has been happening in the many trade deal negotiations going on around the world.

Whether it is an effect of the pandemic or something else, we don’t know for sure. It has been relatively quiet on the trade deal front. Main players in this month’s edition are Japan, the United Kingdom, and the European Union of course.

Trade Deals Around the World is our monthly recurring update, which gives you a quick and easy update on what has been happening in the many trade deal negotiations going on around the world.

When goods are bought or sold “Free on Board” (FOB) it means that the seller delivers the goods to a ship at a port previously agreed to by the seller and the buyer. The seller loads the goods onto the ship. The buyer then takes care of the import formalities and transportation to the final destination. Free on Board is one of the oldest Incoterms. It dates back to when goods were carried by sailing ships and it was one of the terms when the Incoterms were first released in 1936. It is also one of the most used commercial terms.

The whole world is affected by the coronavirus pandemic. This means that the demand for medical supplies has been higher than ever before. At the same time, global supply chains are being hampered by restrictions in air freight and ocean freight capacity due to grounded planes and blanked sailings.

From a trade deal point of view, this is going to be a very interesting year. The main players in the negotiations for these trade deals are the United States and the United Kingdom, both of which have new trade deals to negotiate with the European Union. And the United States only signed a “phase one” deal with China, which means there is much more to be agreed on there too.