Five Reasons You Need to Have Up-to-Date Trade Content in 2025

By Laura Putnam-Ladley, Compliance Content Manager, Global Trade Intelligence, Descartes

Protect Your Business. Reduce Risk. Unlock Global Opportunities.

In today’s fast-changing trade environment, outdated information isn’t just a risk—it’s a cost. Whether you’re a global manufacturer, an ecommerce seller, or a logistics provider, staying on top of trade updates is critical for avoiding compliance issues, reducing import costs, and identifying new opportunities.

Here are five compelling reasons why keeping your trade content current is more important than ever.

• Product Classifications Are Changing—Fast
• Documentation Gaps Can Delay or Reject Your Shipments
• Import Costs Are Rising—and Changing
• You Might Be Missing Out on Cost-Saving Opportunities
• You Could Be Violating Sanctions Without Realizing It

Each new calendar year brings changes to Harmonized System (HS) codes and duty rates worldwide.

• The U.S. has updated its Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) five times as of March 14, 2025.

Starting January 1, 2025, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member countries Kuwait, Oman, United Arab Emirates, and Qatar moved from 8-digit to 12-digit HS codes, requiring complete reclassification.

Why it matters: Using outdated HS codes can lead to misclassification, fines, or delays at Customs.

Tariff amendments often come with changes to government agency requirements for importing like submission of additional information or new supporting documents.

• U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced new Food and Drug Administration (FDA) entry requirements for cosmetics, ceramicware, food, and animal devices on January 22, 2025. CBP started rejecting Customs entries on March 22, 2025, for incorrect or missing intended use codes (IUCs) issued for those types of items.

Why it matters: Failing to meet updated entry requirements can result in Customs holds, rejected entries, or returned goods.

Governments are adjusting taxes, duties, and de minimis thresholds that affect your landed cost.

Increased Taxes

• Singapore increased its Goods and Services Tax (GST) from 8% to 9% on January 2, 2025.

Higher Duty Rates

• India’s Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) increased Basic Customs Duty (BCD) on interactive, flat panel displays from 10% to 20%, effective February 2, 2025

Removal of De Minimis Threshold for Duty and Tax Savings

• Vietnam eliminated its de minimis exemption for express shipments of VND 1,000,000 (or less), taxing all imports regardless of value on February 22, 2025.

Why it matters: Surprise cost increases can shrink your margins or make your pricing uncompetitive—especially in ecommerce.

New and updated Free Trade Agreements (FTA) are creating duty-free possibilities for those who act quickly.

FTA Opportunities

• On December 15, 2024, The United Kingdom joined the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) in December 2024, expanding FTA benefits across 11 countries.

Cost-Saving Opportunities

• Countries like Anguilla offer temporary duty exemptions on essentials like food items in short supply; while others like Australia and New Zealand provide sector-specific relief through tariff concession orders.

Why it matters: Staying informed about FTA updates and local incentives can dramatically lower your landed costs.

High-risk imports from sanctioned countries can result in major compliance issues.

• G7 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, and U.S.) have incrementally increased product-based sanctions against Russia and Belarus, covering a wide range of sectors such as chemicals, electronics, luxury goods and metals.  
• The European Union recently adopted its 16^th sanctions package for the Russia sanctions. As of February 24, 2025, this includes banned imports of Russian primary aluminum and expanded export restrictions on industrial goods.

Why it matters: One non-compliant item in your supply chain can block an entire shipment—or trigger an audit.

Trade compliance isn’t just about avoiding penalties—it’s about staying competitive. Accurate and up-to-date trade content protects your business, improves efficiency, and opens doors to global opportunities. Make sure your team is plugged into real-time updates from Customs authorities, trade agreement databases, and government notices.

With timely, accurate, and high-quality global trade content, you can more effectively minimize regulatory compliance risks, increase supply chain velocity, reduce cost, and boost operational efficiency.

Descartes is an industry leader in trade intelligence, and a strategic enabler for global trade compliance companies. We help ensure that customers have access to the most accurate and up-to-date global trade management content. The information is engineered in a way that produces output customers can rely on to add value to their business.

How Descartes CustomsInfo Can Help

Effective and timely Harmonized System (HS) and Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) code lookup and related regulatory research are a challenge for many businesses that move goods across borders. HS codes, duties and tax rates change frequently, as do government regulations and policies relating to classification, valuation, and special trade programs and free trade agreements.

Descartes CustomsInfo™ Reference has an up-to-date database of more than 6 million regulatory sources covering 160+ countries. Its advanced global tariff code lookup and HS and HTS code search capabilities are accessed from a single-screen interface, helping import compliance professionals, attorneys, consultants and others make significantly better classification decisions more efficiently, optimize duty spend, as well as support classification determinations for audit purposes.

Descartes CustomsInfo™ Manager allows organizations to set up a central repository of product classification codes that can interface with multiple ERP, GTM, and ecommerce systems, as well as facilitate collaborative teamwork across departments, divisions and regions. With this solution, companies can also better prepare for HS and HTS code updates by pre-classifying ahead of time and going live with the changes when required.