What Is an International Trade Specialist?

An international trade specialist is a business professional who helps clients in various capacities related to international business. This job is one of the components or the consequences of globalization. With the increasing trade of goods and conducting of business across various territorial borders, a need for specialists with the experience and knowledge to help facilitate the conduct of such business led to the emergence of trade specialists. Their functions are tailored to suit the requirements of their specific clients. Such clients may include big multinational corporations, small startup companies, and sole enterprises to individual importers and exporters who merely wish to find out the merits of importing or exporting certain goods to stated countries.

When multinational companies wish to expand to other countries, they may engage the services of international trade specialists to help them research market trends in the new country. This includes conducting research into commercial law with respect to the country and looking for potential trade partners. These trade specialists may also help such corporations with locating resources like raw materials and with providing labor.

When representing startup companies, the international trade specialist will help the company with such services as sourcing for foreign trade partners and potential clients as well as the analysis of market trends in the country. For instance, if investors or entrepreneurs located in London want to open a sneakers manufacturing plant in China, an international trade specialist will help the company by researching the laws regarding the establishment of such a business in China, checking the availability of raw materials, and securing labor. The international trade specialist will also look for good locations or sites to establish the manufacturing plant. The client will be presented with a list of several choices that gives a detailed explanation of the advantages and disadvantages of the individual sites. Based on the advice of the international trade specialist and their own requirements, the client will chose the best site.

Individual importers and exporters may benefit from the services of an international trade specialist as well. For instance, someone who wants to export textile materials to another country on a commercial basis may hire a trade specialist to find out the availability and state of the market for such a material in the chosen country. Other aspects the trade specialist would look into are the country’s import and export laws, the international trade laws guiding such a trade, and the custom’s duty the exporter can expect to pay. The trade specialist will also find out if there are any import or export quotas, trade embargoes or unfavorable taxation schemes that might affect the imports.