Category: American Exporters

World of Concrete 2026: Building the Future of Construction

The global concrete and masonry industries will converge in Las Vegas January 20–22, 2026, for the 52nd annual World of Concrete (WOC), with education sessions beginning January 19.

Last year, WOC drew nearly 58,000 professionals and more than 1,500 exhibitors across 750,000 square feet of exhibit space. Organizers say 2026 will offer an even larger platform for innovation, training, and networking, cementing its status as a must-attend event for construction professionals.

Exhibits and Innovations

The show will feature thousands of exhibitors across indoor and outdoor spaces, showcasing the latest products, equipment, and services.

Central Hall highlights include:

  • Material Handling: Equipment for trucks, excavators, and concrete placement.
  • World of Concrete General: Tools and services for commercial construction.
  • Work Truck LIVE!: Fleet solutions and productivity enhancements for Class 2–7 trucks.

North Hall will feature:

  • Producer Center: Equipment and software for ready-mix concrete.
  • Technology for Construction: Robotics, AI, software, and estimating tools.
  • Precast & Concrete Masonry: Blocks, pavers, and production equipment.
  • Cement Production Pavilion: Cement manufacturing, automation, and support services.

South Hall includes:

  • World of Masonry: Tools, products, and technologies for masonry professionals.
  • Concrete Repair & Demolition: Equipment for surface prep, grinding, and cutting.
  • Concrete Surfaces & Decorative: Products for coatings, surface protection, and decorative concrete.

Outdoor exhibits in the Silver and Bronze Lots will offer live demonstrations and hands-on experiences.

Competitions and Special Events

WOC 2026 will host events such as the SPEC MIX BRICKLAYER 500 World Championship, Masonry Skills Challenge, Toughest Tender, Fastest Trowel on the Block, and the Western Star Trucks Get Tough Challenge. Decorative Concrete LIVE! and the Decorative Concrete Experience will showcase products and innovations in decorative concrete. The SAIA Scaffold Builders Challenge offers crews a chance to demonstrate skills in a competitive setting.

Education and Professional Development

The WOC Education Program offers more than 160 sessions for all skill levels, including CEH-approved seminars, fast facts, workshops, and hands-on training. Attendees can earn the WOC Master Certificate (12 CEHs) or Emerging Leader Master Certificate (9 CEHs). Sessions will be offered in English, Spanish, and bilingual formats, with translation services in over 60 languages via the WORDLY platform.

Special events include Breakfast with the Experts, Concrete Polishing Luncheon & Forum, Quality in Concrete Slabs Luncheon, and 3D Construction Printing Luncheon & Forum. New sessions include “Engineering: Designing for Constructability” and “Bridging the Gap Between the General Contractor & Engineer.”

Supporting the Next Generation

WOC will host silent and live auctions for the Concrete Industry Management (CIM) program, which has raised over $20 million to develop the next generation of concrete industry professionals.

Event Details

  • Exhibits: Jan. 20–22, 2026
  • Education: Jan. 19–22, 2026
  • Location: Las Vegas Convention Center

Early registration and hotel discounts are available through Dec. 12, 2025.

For more information, visit the World of Concrete website.

U.S. State Department begins laying off nearly 1,500 workers

U.S. diplomats are bracing for cuts to the State Department workforce.  The layoffs are part of a mass reorganization of the federal agency. NBC News’ Vaughn Hillyard reports.

Tariff Trends 2025: Expert Insights on the New U.S. Customs Landscape

U.S. tariff policies are changing at an unprecedented pace. Do you have the insights you need to navigate customs clearance and ensure accurate imports? Watch our June 26, 2025 “Tariff Trends 2025” webinar, where our expert panel dive into the latest tariff updates and their impact on your shipments. Speakers: Marcus Eeman, Senior Manager, Customs, Flexport; and Tim Vorderstrasse | Head of Drawback, Flexport.

Doing Business in America and the Global Economic Outlook

Eric Van Nostrand, the U.S. Treasury Department’s chief economist discusses the U.S. economic outlook.

The global macroeconomic outlook is uncertain, and monetary policy is in a restrictive stance, but American business investment is outperforming expectations. Hiring, though slowing from unsustainable levels, appears steady, and the outlook for future investment appears positive.

Global Outlook June 2024: The path ahead for the U.S. economy

In The Economist’s June 2024 Global Outlook video, head of global forecasting and economics, Tom Rafferty, and global principal economist, Steven Leslie, discuss the U.S. economic outlook.

Forum on Global Trade and the Digital Economy 

U.S. Chamber of Commerce executive Myron Brilliant discussed three opportunities American businesses can take advantage of to impact the global economy in 2022.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce hosted its 2nd annual Global Forum on May 10 and 11, 2022. The forum focused on how government and business leaders can address global challenges

Myron Brilliant, executive vice president and head of international affairs for the U.S. Chamber, set the stage for the day’s programming. He summarized three major issues affecting the interconnected global economy, as well as some significant opportunities American businesses have to impact the global economy.

Easing Supply Chain Bottlenecks for a Sustainable Future

World Trade Organization (WTO) members and stakeholders from every part of the supply chain shared perspectives on the underlying causes and trajectory of continued supply chain disruptions. They also discussed the resources, interventions and innovations needed to ease crippling disruptions, logjams and price hikes.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Remarks During World Trade Week 2021

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo Speaks during World Trade Week 2021, Southern California virtual event.

AAPEX Launches Blog to Keep Attendees Ahead of the Curve

AAPEX attendees can now turn to the event’s new blog for insights from industry experts on how the latest vehicle technologies, trends and issues are impacting the global automotive aftermarket. AAPEX represents the $740 billion global automotive aftermarket industry and will take place Tuesday, Oct. 30 through Thursday, Nov. 1, at the Sands Expo in Las Vegas.

In the opening AAPEX blogs, Bill Hanvey, president and CEO, Auto Care Association, covers “The Top 4 Opportunities That Come with Access to Vehicle Data,” and how the vast majority of motorists have no idea that their personal information is being collected and aggregated by their own vehicles, then sold to the highest bidder.

Bill Long, president and chief operating officer, Automotive Aftermarket Suppliers Association (AASA), addresses “Why We Are Positive About the Aftermarket … and AAPEX,” with a look at near-term trends, including changes in the distribution model such as e-tailing and omni-channels, and how autonomy – whenever it arrives in force –  will mean more miles driven as vehicle usage becomes more available to new categories of motorists.

The AAPEX Blog is designed to keep attendees ahead of the curve year-round as the automotive aftermarket faces near-constant change that presents both opportunities for growth, as well as long-term shifts and threats.

To read the weekly AAPEX Blog, visit the AAPEX website, www.aapexshow.com.

AAPEX 2018 will feature more than 2,500 exhibiting companies displaying the latest products, services and technologies. More than 47,000 targeted buyers are expected to attend and approximately 162,000 automotive aftermarket professionals from 135 countries are projected to be in Las Vegas during AAPEX 2018.

AAPEX is a trade-only event and is not open to the general public.

AAPEX is co-owned by the Auto Care Association and the Automotive Aftermarket Suppliers Association (AASA), the light vehicle aftermarket division of the Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association (MEMA). For more information, visit www.aapexshow.com or e-mail: info@aapexshow.com. On social media, follow AAPEX at #AAPEX18.








SHOT Show Celebrated 40th Anniversary in 2018

The 40th Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade ShowSM(SHOT Show®), owned and operated by the National Shooting Sports Foundation® (NSSF®), celebrated the milestone with more events than ever before. Strong attendance, upbeat buyers and sellers, and a series of packed special events that collectively made up “SHOT Week” resulted in another top-rated SHOT Show.

SHOT Show is the largest trade show of its kind in the world, attracting attendees from more than 100 countries. “From our humble beginnings in St. Louis in 1979, to now being one of the leading trade shows in the world, we’ve come a long way in 40 years,” said Chris Dolnack, NSSF Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer.

The show spanned Jan. 23-26 at the Sands Expo Center in Las Vegas. More than 60,000 industry professionals packed the aisles over four days eager to view new, innovative products used for target shooting, hunting, outdoor recreation and law enforcement purposes.

“We had good, reputable media coverage, both print writers and video, and had more time to discuss products with buyers and media,” said JJ Reich of Vista Outdoor. “It was a great show all together, with lots of traffic.”

Smith & Wesson’s Chris Bovat stated, “Everything went smoothly, from set up and arrival of all of our gear, to the actual running of the booth. 2018 was great for us.”

“It was a hugely successful year for us … we’ve done more business at the 2018 show than ever before,” Patty Cueller at Aguila Ammunition reported.

The SHOT Show has grown exponentially since it started in 1979, in St. Louis. That inaugural show attracted 5,600 attendees and had 290 exhibitors covering 51,153 net square feet of exhibit space. Compare that to the 2018 show with an attendance of more than 60,000 and attracting 1,660 exhibiting companies occupying more than 645,000 net square feet of space, completing filling the Sands Expo. Taking the new, two-day Suppliers Showcase into account, more than 2,100 companies exhibited at SHOT Show this year.

NSSF introduced a new, streamlined State of the Industry format that was well received. Big moments at the reception were the presentation of the NSSF Ken Sedlecky Lifetime Achievement Award to legendary outdoor communicator Tom Gresham and NSSF President and CEO Steve Sanetti sharing a series of priorities that industry will focus on to help protect its future and that of its customers.

There were thousands of products for buyers to see on the show floor, encompassing firearms, ammunition, accessories, optics, knives, gun safes, apparel and law enforcement equipment, among other categories. Nearly 550 new products from 367 companies were on display in the show’s New Product Center, sponsored by U.S. Concealed Carry Association. In addition to the more than 1,660 exhibiting companies on the main show floors, the NEXT 2.0 Pavilion provided 100 first-time vendors from the show’s extensive waiting list with welcome visibility and potential new customers.

The show drew excellent reviews.

“Our company has only been up and running since October, so I don’t think there has ever been an actual brand-launch here at SHOT Show, so that may be a first,” said Phil Davy at VIKTØS.

“All of our expectations were met, and as always we had a great show, doing lots of business. We’re looking forward to next year, for sure,” said Winchester Ammunition’s Nathan Robinson.

SHOT Show’s official opening on Tuesday was preceded by many events.

The kickoff event was the 4th Annual NSSF/HAVA Golf Classic on Sunday in support of Honored American Veterans Afield, which works to aid the healing process of military veterans through hunting and other shooting sports activities. More than $200,000 has been raised in support of this effort since the golf outing began in 2015.

Monday saw some of the SHOT Show’s most popular pre-show events — SHOT Show University, an education forum for retailers; Industry Day at the Range, an opportunity for media and buyers to experience hands-on testing of products; the Executive Management Seminar, providing business information to executives and rising managers; and the expanded two-day Supplier Showcase, featuring more than 460 third-party OEM suppliers of plastics, metals, tools, fabrics and software that were able to reach a crowd of more than 4,000 designers, engineers, purchasing agents and others in the manufacturing sector.

In addition to title sponsors Ram Trucks, U.S. Concealed Carry Association and Daniel Defense, SHOT Show supporters included Aguila Ammunition, Lucas Oil, Freedom Munitions, GunBroker.com, Mossy Oak, Carhartt, SIG Sauer, Smith & Wesson, VIKTØS, Vista Outdoor and Winchester Ammunition.

Preparations have already begun for next year’s 41st SHOT Show, which will return to the Sands Expo on January 22-25, 2019.

More details are available online.