Additional Blogs of Interest

If you’re involved in international business, the country to watch right now is Russia.  Moves by the country which seems intent on isolating itself could impact your business.  Russia recently announced its plans to ban or limit agricultural imports from countries that had imposed sanctions on it.  Dmitri A. Medvedev, Russia’s prime minister, announced that “all beef, pork, fruit, vegetables and dairy products from the European Union, the United States, Canada, Australia and Norway” would be banned for one year.

Last week, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) upheld, with modifications, its Administrative Law Judge’s (ALJ) June findings that neither ZTE Corp.’s devices nor Nokia’s phones (now made by Microsoft Corp.) violated InterDigital Inc.’s international patent rights. The ITC stated that it would release the reasoning in more detail in an upcoming opinion.

Why do anti-dumping measures benefit U.S. steel manufacturers? On August 22nd, U.S. Steel producers were handed a big win in an international trade case against six nations for dumping gas and oil pipe onto the United States market.  This decision comes after a complaint was filed last year by U.S. steel companies against foreign manufacturers who were, according to the U.S., “negatively impacting the U.S. steel production companies with their unfair trading standards.”

What do Maine, International Trade, and Lobster have in common?

When one thinks of Maine, a few things come to mind: fresh lobster, cold winters, its beautiful coastline bordering the Atlantic Ocean.  Next on the list: international trade?  While it’s not currently the first thing to pop into the mind when thinking about Maine, that could soon change.  Maine has a strong international trade center, aptly named the Maine International Trade Center (MITC), which was recently approved by the federal government to receive a grant of over $800K to promote exports from and attract foreign investment to Maine.

International Business Customs in Business Practices

If you’re engaged in international business, chances are at some point, you’ll need to travel to the country in which you have or conduct business.  Whether it’s China, Russia, Vietnam, France, or some other country, knowing the international business customs is imperative.  In fact, since English is the business language for most countries, it is often more important than knowing the local language.  There are some unique international business customs around the world and today’s blog seeks to highlight just a few of them.