Sean Lydon, Author at FTZ Expertise

August 30, 2023

FTZ’ine September 2023

Summer Heat Wilts Trade: August is vacation month here in DC. Congress adjourned at the end of July and promptly left town; the Senate will resume normal business after Labor Day; the House a week later. That made it easy for August weather to have a larger impact on trade than policy changes in your Nation’s Capital. Hurricanes on both […]

July 31, 2023

FTZ’ine August 2023

FTZs Dodge A Bullet: It is a hot one in your Nation’s Capital, but temperatures have dropped a little since UPS worked out a tentative agreement to avert a strike of its drivers. That strike could otherwise have started today, but instead we have two major labor deals in the last two months. The FTZine also hears that the Canadian […]

May 31, 2023

FTZ’ine June 2023

Madam Secretary: The FTZ industry is breathing easier this month. The U.S. Department of Commerce formally announced the appointment of Elizabeth Whiteman as Executive Secretary of the Foreign-Trade Zones Board. That means there is an experienced hand at the helm of this evolving program as it prepares to enter its ninth decade of fostering U.S. employment growth through international trade. […]

January 2, 2021

FTZ’ine January 2021

FTZine is the monthly eMagazine for Users, Operators, and Grantees of the U.S. Foreign-Trade Zones program. Each month we bring you the news from Washington, DC including updates from U.S. Customs and the U.S. Department of Commerce. Reading the FTZine is an excellent training tool to help ensure the uninterrupted compliance of your FTZ operations, no matter what your role in the program is. Sign up today!

July 1, 2020

FTZ’ine July 2020

A New Era of North American Trade Begins – Today marks the official start of a new free trade agreement in North America. North of the border its known as the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), south as the Tratado Mexico, Estados Unidos, Canada (T-MEC) and the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) here at home. Even though the countries couldn’t agree on […]

March 3, 2020

FTZ’ine March 2020

Coronavirus – one word pretty much sums up the news from last month, whether the topic was economics, trade, or politics. Soccer teams playing to empty stadiums in Europe. Commercial flight cancellations reducing air freight capacity. A 15 year bull market coming to a screeching halt. Factories, especially in China’s Hubei Province, completely closed or struggling to produce without employees […]

September 5, 2019

FTZ’ine September 2019

ISCM Welcomes Melissa Irmen! Decades of trade technology experience. Leading industry expert on FTZ PGA filing. Officer of the National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones. Process and change management consultant. Integration Point employee #3. Noted author and speaker on issues regarding ACE implementation. Trainer sought after on a broad range of issues related to trade compliance and the use of technology […]

May 1, 2019

May 2019

Down To The Wire Although the 2020 Presidential election may seem far off at the moment, it is already having an impact on the Congressional schedule for legislation, including trade agreements. Just one month ago, President Trump told lawmakers that he is intent on trying to get a new trade agreement between the United States, Mexico, and Canada implemented before […]

June 29, 2018

July 2018

This Is Not A Drill: New Tariffs Take Effect Next Week After months of speculation, the Trump Administrations’ first tariffs aimed exclusively at Chinese goods take effect on July 6th. This list includes 818 of the 1,333 tariff lines originally announced, and is valued at $34 billion worth of imports from China. Products falling under these tariff lines with an […]