[Cindy's Version] Right Where You Left Me: Is Trade Stuck in the Past?

Host: Cindy Allen
Published: September 18, 2026
Presented by: Global Training Center

International trade keeps changing—but are businesses, policymakers, and trade professionals changing with it?

In this episode of Simply Trade Cindy’s Version, Cindy Allen uses Taylor Swift’s “Right Where You Left Me” as the lens for a packed week in international trade. Cindy covers developments ranging from CBP refund processing and importer-of-record enforcement to the Jones Act, rail export manifests, trucking challenges at the southern border, ocean freight congestion, and ongoing uncertainty surrounding global shipping.

She also turns to the bigger question facing the trade community: Are we still approaching tariffs and trade policy as if the world hasn’t changed?

Cindy shares her perspective on when tariffs may serve a strategic purpose, including national security and critical supply chains, while questioning whether broad tariffs by themselves can accomplish larger policy objectives. Her message for businesses is straightforward: regardless of where the policy debate goes next, companies need to prepare for an international trade environment that looks very different from the one they knew a decade ago.

The challenge isn’t just keeping up with the latest regulation. It’s recognizing when the assumptions behind your trade strategy need to change.

• CBP refund processing, CAPE Phase 3, and ACE refund account challenges
• Importer-of-record enforcement and the importance of accurate CBP Form 5106 information
• Ocean freight congestion, global shipping risks, and approaching Golden Week pressures
• Tariffs, critical supply chains, and adapting business strategy to the evolving trade environment

The central question this week is whether the trade community is “right where you left me”—holding onto assumptions about tariffs, sourcing, supply chains, and trade policy that were formed in a very different environment.

Cindy discusses her view that tariffs can be one tool for addressing specific national security, health, and supply-chain concerns, but argues that tariffs alone cannot create domestic manufacturing capacity or solve broader economic challenges.

Using pharmaceuticals and metals as examples, she explains why incentives, investment, production capacity, and long-term strategy need to work alongside trade policy.

The broader takeaway for importers and trade professionals: the operating environment has changed. Rather than waiting for international trade to return to an earlier version of “normal,” companies should evaluate what the current environment means for compliance, sourcing, investment, and long-term planning.

• Importers should review the information associated with their importer-of-record numbers and ensure their CBP records are accurate and current.

• Refund processing can still create operational challenges, particularly when importers do not have the necessary ACE refund information established.

• Global logistics remain exposed to congestion and geopolitical disruption, making continued supply-chain monitoring important.

• Trade strategy should focus not only on individual tariff actions, but also on the larger business objective: what problem needs to be solved, and what combination of tools can address it?

• Global Training Center
• World Trade Report 2026
• U.S. Customs and Border Protection — ACE, importer-of-record records, and refund processing discussed in the episode

Host:
Cindy Allen

Guest(s):
N/A

Producer:
Lalo Solorzano

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