Trimtab US Trade Ledger

Give your AI eyes on the physical economy

AI assistants make claims about trade every day — on data they cannot see or verify. Connecting the ledger gives yours the record itself: every US import origin, commodity, gateway and month, and what each of them actually paid at the border, from official receipts. Every number is cross-checked against recorded ship movements and the US Treasury’s own totals, and every number ships with a citation and the test that would prove it wrong. No key, no account, no charge. Your AI does the reasoning; the ledger supplies the record.

ChatGPT

Open the Trimtab Ledger GPT →

Works on every ChatGPT plan, including free. TapAllow the first time it asks to talk to trimtabist.com, then ask away. Prefer the raw connector? Plus/Pro: Settings → Apps & Connectors → Advanced → Developer mode → Add https://trimtabist.com/mcp, no authentication.

Claude

Connect to Claude →

Claude opens with the details filled in. ClickAdd, then Connect — then ask it:“What is happening to US imports from Vietnam?”

What your AI can do once connected

“What did toys from China actually pay in tariffs last year?”→ tariff_burden: monthly duty collected, 2017→now, any origin, any chapter

“What’s the tariff on an upholstered chair from Vietnam?”→ tariff_lookup: statutory rate, every measure in force with its Federal Register citation, and what was actually collected — side by side, disagreeing out loud where they disagree

“What HS code is an electric standing desk?”→ hs_search: candidate codes with hierarchy, rates and CBP ruling counts

“Has CBP ever ruled on a product like mine?”→ rulings_search: classification case law with precedent links

“Show me US furniture imports from Vietnam, monthly.”→ trade_query: the full trade cube — and the ledger tells your AI how to draw it, so the chart looks like this site

13 tools (plus 8 registry/archive sub-tools via the ledger_meta router); every response carries citations, caveats and pointers to the next tool. Tariff answers are records and measurements, not customs or legal advice — duty liability is determined at entry.

Anything else that speaks MCP or REST

MCP is the Model Context Protocol — the open standard AI assistants use to reach external data. Any MCP-capable client can use the endpoint below.

MCP (streamable HTTP, no auth): https://trimtabist.com/mcp
REST: https://trimtabist.com/api/trade**?origin=India&commodity=furniture ·/api/studies**?slug=hidden-queue
OpenAPI spec: https://trimtabist.com/openapi.json · Perplexity Pro/Max: Settings → Connectors → paste the MCP URL.

Connected? Ask it something we haven’t — the best engagement each week is printed with your name on it. The Board →