Global trade, in the time it takes to drink a coffee.

Drewry’s World Container Index (WCI), which tracks the cost of shipping a 40-foot container on eight major routes, fell 2% in its October 8 assessment to $4,351.

On the transpacific, Shanghai–Los Angeles dropped 3% to $7,624 and Shanghai–New York 2% to $10,220. Shanghai–Rotterdam also eased 2% to $3,337, while Shanghai–Genoa held steady. The dip coincides with softer demand during Golden Week, the holiday when many Chinese factories shut down.

For the following week, carriers announced 4 blank sailings on the transpacific, down from 11: more capacity in the market. Drewry expects rates to hold steady in the short term but warns of volatility driven by demand, capacity shifts and geopolitics.

On October 6, Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies approved a reform to the Customs Law that gives authorities more room to challenge the declared value of imports. The general vote was 334 to 119 and the article-by-article vote 338 to 114. The bill now goes to the Senate.

The key change: customs no longer needs the declared value to be at least 50% below that of identical or similar goods before ordering a precautionary seizure for undervaluation. Any gap is enough to open a review. To release goods, importers can post cash or use a customs guarantee account when the gap is under 20%; at 20% or more, only cash is accepted. Fuel and petroleum products face fines of 50% to 100% of commercial value.

If the Senate approves it and it is published in the Official Gazette (DOF), it would take effect on January 1, 2027. Opposition lawmakers called it insufficient against fuel smuggling.

The August trade report, released October 6 by the Census Bureau and BEA, shows the US trade deficit up 13.7% from July to $105.6 billion. Mexico had the largest bilateral deficit at $27.7 billion (seasonally adjusted), ahead of Vietnam and Taiwan.

On an unadjusted basis, Mexico’s exports to the US hit a record $60.6 billion in August, up 34.2% year over year and above July’s previous high. Mexico supplied about 18% of all goods the US imported that month. From January to August, US imports from Mexico totaled $419.3 billion.

The driver is electronics and computer equipment, especially data-center servers: advanced technology products reached about $26.0 billion in August. Automotive exports, by contrast, fell about 1%.