On August 23, 2016, the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) launched the Import Monitoring Tool. The ITC said it is providing this web-based tool to allow users to monitor changes in U.S. imports for the latest eight quarters. The tool was developed in response to the provisions of section 603 of the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 .
Using this tool, a person will be able to find the major changes in the value of U.S. imports by tariff line (in the U.S. Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS), tariff lines are designated using 8-digits, e.g. 2501.00.00). When initially entering the tool, one will see the top 100 tariff lines ranked in descending order based on the largest absolute change during the latest two quarters. With a few simple mouse clicks, a person will be able to easily:
- Adjust the ranking criteria to a percentage change basis.
- Isolate a group of tariff lines from a specific HTS chapter, heading, or subheading.
- Isolate the changes for a specific import partner.
- View the corresponding change in the quantity of imports.
