The person who handles both inbound and outbound international shipments at a freight forwarder, broker, or trading company — preparing documentation, coordinating carriers, managing customs clearance, and resolving the issues that come up at borders. As an Import-Export Agent, you're working both directions of cross-border trade, often for a portfolio of regular clients.
A typical week tends to mix import entry preparation, export documentation and AES filings, carrier coordination, customs and OGA exception handling, and client communication on shipment status. You'll often work tight cutoff windows for vessel sailings and flight loadings, while keeping multiple shipments in different stages organized. Trade policy changes — tariffs, exclusions, FTAs — affect work week to week.
Coordination involves shippers and importers, carriers, customs brokers and CBP, partner government agencies (FDA, USDA, FCC depending on commodity), and counterparts overseas. Communication across time zones shapes work patterns. The breadth of needing both import and export expertise is what distinguishes the role.
People who tend to thrive here are detail-rigorous, comfortable with deadline pressure, and energized by working both sides of cross-border trade. If you need quiet focus or low-stakes environments, the always-something-shipping rhythm can grind. If you find satisfaction in being the person who keeps a client's international supply chain flowing cleanly in both directions, the role tends to feel meaningfully operational and globally connected.
Where this role sits in the broader career landscape — and where it can take you.
Roles like this one sit within a broader occupational category. The numbers below reflect that full landscape — helpful for context, but your specific experience will depend on level, specialty, and where you work.
Roles with similar work and overlapping career paths
View all Business Operations roles →The person who handles both inbound and outbound international shipments at a freight forwarder, broker, or trading company — preparing documentation, coordinating carriers, managing customs clearance, and resolving the issues that come up at borders. As an Import-Export Agent, you're working both directions of cross-border trade, often for a portfolio of regular clients.
Median pay for an Import-Export Agent is about $78K nationally, with the field ranging roughly from $46K to $130K depending on experience, employer, and metro (BLS).
Core skills for this role include Active Listening, Reading Comprehension, Speaking, Complex Problem Solving, and Writing.
Most people in this role hold a high school diploma.
Employment in this field is projected to grow about 3% through 2034, with roughly 397,770 people working in it today (BLS).
Closely related roles include Cargo Agent, Import Agent, and Air Export Agent.
Truest gives you tools to understand your strengths, explore roles that fit, and plan your next move.
Explore Truest career tools