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Committee approves outreach to promote Foreign Trade Zone membership to local businesses
Summary
Economic development staff briefed the committee on reactivating and promoting Foreign Trade Zone #58 under the alternate site framework and the committee approved staff outreach to business organizations to identify interested importers/exporters and to promote a potential membership campaign.
Economic development staff updated the Business and Economic Development Committee on efforts to reactivate and promote the city’s Foreign Trade Zone designation and the committee approved staff outreach and promotion to local businesses and the Chamber.
Economic Development Officer Vigida Hernandez Smith said the Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) has been inactive for more than 30 years and the federal alternate-site framework now allows FTZ activity across five counties, not just a single airport-adjacent site. Under the FTZ model businesses that become members can store, process or manufacture imported goods in the zone and defer duties until goods enter the U.S. market; in some cases duties can be eliminated if goods are re-exported.
Hernandez Smith said the city is the FTZ grantee and that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Department of Commerce handle compliance and membership processes. She described the opportunity as a cash-flow benefit for businesses that import goods because duty payments may be deferred, but emphasized the specifics vary by business and CBP must review each case.
Committee members asked questions about bonded warehouses and who would manage them. Hernandez Smith said businesses generally manage their warehouse operations and must maintain compliance under CBP rules; the city can provide promotion and basic information but must hand off detailed compliance matters to federal partners. The staff recommended outreach to the Chamber and other business organizations to identify who imports and exports in the area and to develop a promotional campaign. A motion to proceed with outreach and promotion was moved, seconded and advanced with no objections recorded in the transcript excerpt.
Staff said the strategy depends on producing interested businesses, after which federal partners and CBP would help guide membership and compliance steps. The committee approved outreach and promotion rather than committing city funds to a consultant-led cost-benefit analysis at this time.
