June 6, 2025, 8:30am – 5:00pm
School of International Service, American University
With increasing uncertainty around trade policy and tariffs this workshop will teach participants how to interpret trade data, analyze market trends, and use data analysis tools to enhance their decision-making and analytical abilities as it applies to international trade. Explore the various TiVA databases, newer databases on Multinational Corporation and/or Firm level trade, and how these databases can reveal supply chain risks, and how they may or may not reveal the effects of trade policy uncertainty.
What You Will Learn:
- Trade Data Types: Learn the differences between traditional trade and TiVA data and how both can help navigate an increasingly complex and uncertain trade environment.
- Market Trends & Economic Insights: Discover how to identify trends and anticipate potential disruptions caused by a volatile trade policy environment building a comprehensive view of market trends and economic impacts.
- Analysis Skills: Gain experience with data analysis tools to enhance your ability to provide strategic advice to decision-makers.
- Supply Chains & Vulnerabilities: Explore the role of multinational corporations and learn how TiVA databases can reveal supply chain risks.
- Policy & Compliance: Understand the intersection of trade data, policy, and regulatory compliance in a globalized economy.
- Networking & Practical Application: Build connections and leave with tools to make informed, strategic trade decisions.
Workshop Schedule:
Session 1: How Trade Data Informs U.S. Trade Policy – with Bill Shpiece
Learn how trade data feeds into real-time policy decisions. This session explains how U.S. agencies use economic evidence to shape negotiations, manage trade disputes, and respond to global developments.
Session 2: Introduction to Trade in Value Added (TiVA) Data
A user-friendly guide to what TiVA data is, how it’s constructed, and why it offers a better view of modern supply chains than traditional trade data. Includes the opportunity for hands on learning examples and exercises.
Session 3: Using U.S. TiVA Data – with Jiemin Guo
See how the U.S. uses its own version of TiVA data. This session walks through practical examples of how policymakers and analysts use this data to examine supply chain flows and bottlenecks.
Session 4: Multinational Firms, Supply Chains, and Risks – with Jim Fetzer
Explore how firm-level data helps reveal how multinational companies and smaller businesses engage in global trade. Learn how differences across firms can expose different kinds of supply chain risk.
Session 5: Identifying Supply Chain Risks with TiVA
Learn a structured approach to spotting vulnerabilities in supply chains using TiVA data. This session introduces the concept of “chokepoint” analysis, with real world exercises included.
Session 6. AI & New Frontiers in Supply Chain Data
Explore emerging tools and data sets that go beyond TiVA—such as global firm-level data and U.S. government assessments—to support more targeted and granular risk analysis.
Key Questions:
- How can the OECD and other TiVA (Trade in Value Added) databases be used to identify potential supply chain vulnerabilities in an era of rising uncertainty around trade policy and tariffs?
- How does one develop and assess trade and national security policies in an integrated world economy?
- How are TiVA databases created?
- How might tariff, trade, and industrial policy changes impact the organization of global value chains?
Learning Objectives:
- Identify the strengths and weaknesses in traditional trade and trade in value added data to better manage risks.
- Differentiate between supply chain and value added trade databases.
- Understand the historical evolution of global trade and trade in value added.
- Understand the various TiVA indicators and how they are used to identify the connections and positions of trading countries and sectors.
- Understand the role of Multinational Corporations in value and supply chains, and how they, and smaller firms, manage supply chain risks in a rapidly changing policy landscape.
Led By:
Dr. Robert Koopman, Professor at American University’s School of International Service; former World Trade Organization Chief Economist & Director of the Economic Research and Statistics Division
with specific expert contributions from current and/or former USTR, Department of Commerce, and USITC staff.
- Trade & Policy Professionals
- Business & Supply Chain Managers
- Government Officials
- Analysts & Researchers
- Corporate Strategy & Risk Managers