Two shipping firms based in Germany and Cyprus have pleaded guilty to felony obstruction of justice charges and violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS, 33 U.S.C. §§1905-1915) related to the deliberate concealment of vessel pollution from four ships that visited ports in New Jersey, Delaware and Northern California.

For decades, governments and companies around the world have focused almost exclusively on tariffs as the biggest impediment to global trade. Despite tariffs dropping to a 30-year low, reform efforts have stalled in recent years and international trade remains seriously constrained.

The National Retail Federation estimates that nearly $9bn was lost by merchants in returns fraud in 2012. And according to a report from ThreatMetrix, online fraud resulted in about $3.5bn in lost revenue in North America last year.