Businesses rush goods into US foreign trade zones as tariffs loom

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Companies have increased the shipments of imported goods to “external trade areas”, which are exempt from customs duties because they benefit from the policy of the major depression era to circumvent the trade tariffs that are not irregular by US President Donald Trump.
Warehouse operators said that customers were rushing to store more goods within the approved establishments that temporarily exempt companies from paying the customs tariff, according to the laws that were originally submitted to alleviate the repercussions of American protectionist policies in the thirties of the twentieth century.
Jeffrey Tafel, head of the National Association of Foreign Trade Zones (NAFTZ), said that the organizations that oversee foreign trade areas have stated that attention ranged between two to four times since Trump returned to the White House in January.
On what Trump called “Liberation Day”, the president is expected to announce on Wednesday a set of new commercial measures. On Thursday, the administration also plans to implement a proposal that has been announced in advance by 25 percent on most auto imports.
“We have seen a large group of interested companies,” said Greg Nichols, head of customs services at DHL. The German warehouse operator said it offers 14 guaranteed locations throughout the United States, and is often near entry ports.
Although these sites were often more expensive to use than traditional warehouses, they provided “an opportunity to keep the stock in a prior country near the place you need, but you are likely to be able to wait for the customs tariff mode to see if it changes.”
“Continuous and unprecedented executive orders” to the Trump administration on trade and definitions [are] Pay a lot of increasing attention. “
Once the goods are in the regions, companies may later decide to transfer them to the American market and pay any tariff that apply, or export products again outside the country without paying taxes.
They can also import multiple parts of assembly within foreign trade areas, just pushing a tariff for the final product when sending it to the United States market.
The use of the increasing areas of the regions, which NAFTZ said in every American state, is the latest example of companies that rush to move in Trump’s commercial threats, which they believe still is the opposite.
In the last weeks of comprehensive definitions, Trump threatened the imported goods from a number of commercial partners, with frequent delay and repetition of his threats.
Since the United States enabled the establishment of external trade areas in 1934, after the 1930 SMOOT-HWLEY tariff in the country worsened from the Great Global Depression, there are now 261 areas supervised by organizations including state and port authorities.
Many multinationals, including BMW and Airbus, have received permission to manufacture within these areas. However, it usually took between six and nine months to obtain approval for a new site, said an executive official in a logistical group with multiple accredited warehouses, he asked not to be named.
He said that his company was suffering from a “significant increase” in the request, and received up to dozens of calls from customers every week about its approved facilities.
The CEO said that even during the first period of Trump’s state, interest in foreign trade areas was limited, as companies were generally given more time to prepare for the new definitions.
Now, Trump is faster than trade restrictions through executive orders that give companies to search for “more flexibility and control” by storing goods at risk of falling.
The CEO said that these goods included auto parts, pharmaceutical products and air conditioning units.
Tafel said that the constant interest in foreign trade areas “depends entirely on how to implement the newly announced definitions” and any restrictions on the use of these areas. But he added that Navz’s annual annual spring in Georgia was “May” is moving towards being the best at all “based on the current contributions.
Before the definitions “Liberation Day”, one of the logistical executives said it was “confident of this [carmakers] “If they can obtain permission to manufacture in foreign trade areas, will be evaluated.
Nichols said that DHL was hearing about “increasing interest” in manufacturing in these areas, adding that the group of logistical services was considering increasing the number of approved warehouses.
“It is an active discussion … there may be a real need for additional areas.”
2025-04-01 15:19:00