If your business is growing and looking at international expansion, you should know that it's not going to be as easy as updating your website or shipping terms. If you intend to start doing serious business with another country outside the United States, you are going to want to make sure you cover all of your bases in order to protect your bottom line. Here are just some of the ways that an international trade attorney can help guide your company through this new endeavor.

Get Help Adapting to New Tax Laws

When you start doing trade internationally, you might have to deal with tax laws from not just the United States, but also the tax laws in the new country you wish to trade with. One bad mistake due to a lack of information could end up getting your company in legal trouble or facing a heavy fine. International trade attorneys stay up to date with all major tax laws in most major industrialized countries around the world. You'll be able to make sure that each transaction you engage in is on the right side of the law at all times.

Stay Up to Date with Government Regulations

International trade is an area that can be tricky to navigate even when the United States is on good terms with most other countries. But things can get especially dicey if the United States currently has regulations set up for U.S. businesses that want to trade with specific partners. It's not enough to just know all of the applicable tax laws, you also need to know about any additional regulations that might limit what you are allowed to sell, ship, import and export. Fail to meet these rules and regulations and you could once again be in legal trouble or even have your company banned from shipping certain products overseas entirely.

Get Advice on How to Best Handle Tariffs

We just mentioned government regulations and tariffs are certainly a part of that, but navigating tariffs properly could be especially important to your bottom line. Does the United States currently have a tariff imposed against a certain country? Does that country also have its own tariff imposed against the United States? Is there a date in the future where these tariffs might increase, decrease or go away entirely? There can be a bit of a political factor involved with tariffs, and it's understandable if you are not completely up to date with everything going on in this area. A good trade lawyer will be able to make sure that you don't make any foolish business decisions related to tariffs that will end up costing you money.

Contact an international trade attorney today for more information.