An official website of the United States government. 
News Release 16-107
Contact: Peg O'Laughlin, 202-205-1819
The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) today launched its new Import Monitoring Tool, a web-based interface that allows the public to more easily monitor changes in U.S. imports.
Section 603 of the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 (P.L. 114-125) required the Commission to make available on its website an import monitoring tool that provides public access to data on the volume and value of goods imported into the United States. The purpose of the tool is to allow users to assess whether data concerning imports have changed over a period of time.
The USITC Import Monitoring Tool uses public monthly U.S. import data retrieved by the USITC from the U.S. Department of Commerce. Results are displayed by Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) tariff line. Data will be updated as soon as possible after each calendar quarter.
The USITC Import Monitoring Tool can be accessed here: https://www.usitc.gov/import_monitoring.htm
When initially entering the tool, users will see U.S. imports by tariff line ranked in descending order based on the largest absolute change during the latest two quarters. With a few simple mouse clicks, users 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.
Users can query the system for data by HTS tariff line and can see country or quantity detail for these lines. Import data for the eight latest quarters are available through the system.
The Import Monitoring Tool is a separate tool from the Commission’s DataWeb system for accessing trade data, but it represents a first step in planned improvements to make the DataWeb system more accessible and easier to use.