compare_countries
One product (HS2, HS4 or HS6 code, e.g. "850760" lithium-ion batteries, "8708" auto parts, "72" iron and steel, "030617" frozen shrimp) side by side across several reporting countries (default: all of JP, US, GB, EU) for one flow. Every country is measured over the same 12 months, ending at common_month (the latest month all compared countries have published, normally the earliest of their latest months). Per country: the 12-month value in US dollars on a comparable basis (imports CIF, exports FOB; the US export value is FAS and the notes say so), the previous 12 months and year-over-year change, kilograms, the unit price in US dollars per kg (only where weights exist; kg_coverage says what share of the value has a weight) and the 3 largest partners with their shares. A country without the code is status "no_code" and one with a missing month status "no_data"; they are never shown as 0. Partner definitions differ between countries (origin, consignment, destination); the notes explain it. Use it for "which country trades more of X" or "how do unit prices compare"; national codes (JP 9 digits, US 10, GB 8) are rejected. Use get_mirror_trade instead to put one country's exports to another next to that country's imports from it, and get_item_summary for the full detail of one country. Customs trade statistics of several reporting countries (Japan JP, United States US, United Kingdom GB, European Union (27 member states) EU) from their official customs data, monthly, by HS product code and partner country. value fields are in the reporter's currency (currency: JPY, USD, GBP or EUR) and _usd fields in US dollars; ratios and shares are fractions precomputed from the full dataset; every answer carries reporter, currency, data_through (latest published month), the reporter's attribution, and notes. Maximum 200 rows per answer. Numbers in answers are rounded once, at the end: amounts (value, _usd, v12 ...) to 2 decimals, quantity and kg to 3, unit prices (unit_price) to 4 significant digits below 100 and 2 decimals from 100 up (never rounded to 0), and ratios, shares and growth rates (yoy, mom*, share*, hhi*, chg3y) to 6; whole numbers and null are left as they are. A null quantity, kg or unit price comes with a *_unavailable_reason (mixed_units, weight_only, no_quantity_in_source, no_weight_in_source, source_gap, withheld; get_catalog lists them in null_reasons), and a missing seasonality with seasonality_unavailable_reason. The national level (JP 9-digit, US 10-digit, GB 8-digit codes) differs between reporters and between import and export; EU has no national level (HS6 only); HS6, HS4 and HS2 are shared. Import and export are separate datasets, so reporter and flow are always required for product figures. Rankings (limit) are limited to the top 20 without an API key (more is refused with out_of_scope) and to 100 with a free API key. Start with get_catalog (coverage, your access limits, which tool to use) or, when you already know the code, get_item_summary for a one-call overview of a product.
Tool call template
Replace each placeholder with a value matching the input schema. Only required parameters are included; add optional parameters as needed.
{
"id": 1,
"jsonrpc": "2.0",
"method": "tools/call",
"params": {
"arguments": {
"code": "<code>",
"flow": "<flow>"
},
"name": "compare_countries"
}
}Input Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| code | Yes | HS product code with 2, 4 or 6 digits (e.g. "85", "8708" or "850760"; dots are ignored). National codes are not comparable across countries and are rejected; find the HS6 code with search_items. | |
| flow | Yes | Required. "import" (goods entering the reporting country) or "export" (goods leaving it); there is no combined view: "both" does not exist. For a comparison across countries use compare_countries, for exports minus imports use get_balance. | |
| reporters | No | Optional. The reporting countries to compare, at least two of "JP", "US", "GB" or "EU" (e.g. ["JP","GB"]); in a query string a comma-separated list (JP,GB). Default: every available reporter. |