Transiting Goods

Concept of Transiting Goods in Foreign Trade

A definition of Transiting Goods in relation with foreign trade is provided here: Shipments of goods moving through the United States en route from one country to another, where the United States is not the country of ultimate destination, can create coverage problems that affect trade statistics. When such goods, referred to as transiting goods, are shipped under bond, they are not subject to duties and are excluded from the merchandise trade statistics in accordance with the guidelines for international merchandise trade statistics established by the United Nations. Many companies, however, enter transiting goods into the United States using an import entry summary and file an export declaration when the goods leave the United States. While this practice does not affect the total trade balance, it does affect bilateral trade balances, and creates discrepancies between U.S. statistics and those of other countries. This issue is especially problematic for bilateral trade between Canada and the United States, where goods transiting through the United States from Canada are entered as U.S. imports from Canada. Also see In-Transit Shipments.