With the multitude of trade regulations, many companies are turning to trade treaties such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership to address the barriers that exist at the national regulatory level. If they are successful, companies within partnership countries will have easier market access and less bureaucratic red tape.

The World Bank report, Doing Business 2014: Understanding Regulations for Small and Medium-Size Enterprises, identified a huge uptick in the pace of business regulation reform, with nearly 240 business-related regulatory reforms in 114 nations enacted last year. With this increase, companies need to ensure they have trade regulatory compliance processes in place.

Despite Customs remaining largely staffed during the government shutdown, many companies are seeing their import and export operations screeching to a halt as they hit trade roadblocks from other furloughed agencies.