Episode: Thanksgiving Special 2025

Shannon Hynds, Co-Founder of QuickCode

This week, Andy and Lalo bring you a fun, festive, and surprisingly educational Thanksgiving special! They’re joined by long-time friends of the show, Shannon Hynds and Joe Morales from QuickCode, who accepted Lalo’s challenge to “classify Thanksgiving.”

From running shoes for the Turkey Trot, to football gear, to pasta anti-dumping surprises, and even a frozen turkey for bowling (yes, seriously!), Shannon gives a behind-the-scenes walkthrough of how QuickCode uses AI to classify everyday Thanksgiving items — and how the complex tariff environment impacts the cost of your holiday table.

This episode blends trade geekery with holiday traditions, showing how tariffs, food origins, USMCA benefits, anti-dumping cases, and even forced labor considerations affect the simplest things… like cinnamon. Viewers get an on-screen demo of QuickCode’s classification tools, tariff calculations, sourcing decisions, and bill-of-materials logic — so we recommend watching this episode on YouTube!

Funny, insightful, and packed with practical examples, this Thanksgiving edition is a refreshing break from the usual policy-heavy episodes.

Holiday items are full of tariff surprises — from sneakers to pasta to canned fruit.

Anti-dumping cases can hit unexpected products, like Italian pasta (Barilla at 19%!).

IEEPA and 301 tariffs dramatically change sourcing strategies, even for food.

USMCA benefits can wipe out tariffs for products like Topo Chico and tequila.

QuickCode's AI-driven workflow simplifies classification but still requires human judgment for 10-digit HTS codes.

Forced labor and denied party screening are becoming essential parts of import compliance.

Frozen turkey bowling is a terrible but hilarious classification challenge.

Nike Air Max running shoes (China) → Sneaker tariffs stack up to 47.5%

Football for backyard games → Rates vary widely depending on origin

Italian pasta (Barilla) → Anti-dumping shocker: 19%

Canned pineapple (Brazil) → Eligible for agricultural exemption on IEEPA

Cinnamon → Most sourced from Indonesia

Ranch Water components (Tequila, mineral water, limes) → USMCA to the rescue

Tamales → A surprisingly complex classification

Frozen turkey for bowling → Novelty sports equipment??? (Maybe.)

QuickCode – Trade classification and compliance automation

Shannon Hynds (LinkedIn)

Joe Morales (LinkedIn)

U.S. Customs & Border Protection – HTSUS

Presented by: Global Training Center

Shannon Hynds, Co-Founder of QuickCode – LinkedIn

Joe Morales, Co-Founder of QuickCode – LinkedIn

Producer: Lalo Solorzano

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