Tariffs & Policy
Rules of Origin: How a Product Gets a Nationality
A phone assembled in one country from parts made in six others has to count as being from somewhere. The test that decides it is…
Wei-Lin Tan
Contributing writer, Trade War China
Wei-Lin writes about supply chains and the single suppliers whole industries rest on.
Contact Wei-Lin through our contact page — mark your message for their attention and it will be passed on.
12 articles
Tariffs & Policy
The Classification Code That Decides What an Import Costs
Before anyone argues about a rate, somebody has to decide what the thing is. That decision is made in a numbering system most…
Tariffs & Policy
Anti-Dumping Duties and the Problem of Proving a Price Is Too Low
Trade remedy cases turn on comparing a price in one market with a price in another. Almost every step of that comparison is…
Tariffs & Policy
Why Raw Materials Enter Cheap and Finished Goods Do Not
Duty rates in most schedules rise with each stage of processing. That gradient quietly decides where value gets added.
Tariffs & Policy
Duty Drawback and the Goods That Only Pass Through
Most customs systems accept that a country should not tax goods it does not consume. The schemes that implement this reshape where…
Supply Chains
The Suppliers a Company Cannot Name
Most manufacturers know who they buy from. Very few know who their suppliers buy from, and almost none know the tier below that.
Supply Chains
One Component, One Supplier, and an Entire Industry Waiting
A part worth a fraction of a product's cost can stop its production completely. Value share and criticality are unrelated…
Supply Chains
Why Lead Time Decides More Than Price Does
A cheaper supplier four weeks further away is not cheaper. The difference is carried in stock, and stock is paid for continuously.
Supply Chains
Reading a Bill of Materials Like a Map of Risk
The parts list that tells engineering what to build also tells you where the product is exposed. Most firms only use it for the…
Supply Chains
Make It or Buy It: Where a Manufacturer Draws Its Own Boundary
Every firm decides how much of its product to build itself. The answer moves over time, and the reasons it moves are structural.
Supply Chains
Why Suppliers Cluster Within an Hour of Each Other
Component makers rarely spread evenly across a country. They pile up around each other, and the reasons are older than modern…
Supply Chains
Shipping It Generic and Finishing It Late
Holding stock in a half-built state solves a problem that neither more inventory nor better forecasting can. The technique is…