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International Trade Guide

Getting Started with International Trade Research

International trade information in this guide can be divided into three categories:

  • Statistics
  • Legal documents, including bilateral and multilateral trade agreements, trade law, and regulations
  • Articles and reports

Statistical databases are particularly useful for doing research on trade flows. The U.S. Census Bureau is the best source for U.S. Trade statistics. If you are looking for import and export data for trading partners not including the United States, try ITC Trade Map, a database published by the International Trade Center, an agency under the joint authority of the World Bank and the United Nations. The Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration has databases that will allow you to look at exports broken down by state and municipality.

World Trade Online has global news on international trade while China Trade Extra is an example of a more specialized regional service that includes news and reports on policy.

The U.S. International Trade Library in HeinOnline is a good source for legal materials including treaties, statutes, legislative histories, and law journal articles. We recently added Global Regulations content to Lexis, greatly strengthening that database's resources in international law.

 ITA employees have access to additional resources not available to other Commerce employees. ITA staff wanting to know about these resources should contact the CDP help desk.