Info for Railroad Digz
Anons, I did some digging nearly a year ago on Foreign Trade Zones (FTZs), which are tarriff free zones established within the continental US. I was initially interested in Long Beach. Here are my cuts with sauce.
""Brief History""
The FTZ program has grown profoundly over the last 30 years. In 1970 there were 8 Foreign-Trade Zone projects (with a total of 3 Subzones) in the United States. Today there are over 230 Foreign-Trade Zone projects (with nearly 400 Subzones) in the United States. This growth is the result of changes in the FTZ program. These changes have caused the FTZ program to evolve into an important means by which U.S.-based companies can enhance their cost-competitiveness, and as a means by which the United States can practice both the letter and the spirit of its trade laws.
<https://www.foreign-trade-zone.com/history.htm
""An Introduction to Foreign-Trade Zones""
Foreign-Trade Zones (FTZ) are secure areas under U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) supervision that are generally considered outside CBP territory upon activation. Located in or near CBP ports of entry, they are the United States' version of what are known internationally as free-trade zones.
Authority for establishing these facilities is granted by the Foreign-Trade Zones Board under the Foreign-Trade Zones Act of 1934, as amended (19 U.S.C. 81a-81u). The Foreign-Trade Zones Act is administered through two sets of regulations, the FTZ Regulations (15 CFR Part 400) and CBP Regulations (19 CFR Part 146).
Foreign and domestic merchandise may be moved into zones for operations, not otherwise prohibited by law, including storage, exhibition, assembly, manufacturing, and processing. All zone activity is subject to public interest review. Foreign-trade zone sites are subject to the laws and regulations of the United States as well as those of the states and communities in which they are located.
Under zone procedures, the usual formal CBP entry procedures and payments of duties are not required on the foreign merchandise unless and until it enters CBP territory for domestic consumption, at which point the importer generally has the choice of paying duties at the rate of either the original foreign materials or the finished product. Domestic goods moved into the zone for export may be considered exported upon admission to the zone for purposes of excise tax rebates and drawback.
<https://www.cbp.gov/border-security/ports-entry/cargo-security/cargo-control/foreign-trade-zones/about
""From the FTZ Manual""
"(see the ref to 3M - set the almonds tingling)"
The preferred means of entry and exit is by electronic tagging.
2.1(e)(1):
Commerce Clause of the Constitution - The Constitution reserves to Congress the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations (Article I, Section 8, Clause 3, U.S. Constitution) and prohibits states from levying duties on imports and exports (Article 1, Section 10, Clause 2, U.S. Constitution). State laws and regulations are not applicable in zones to the extent that they would contravene the Constitution and federal laws under the Constitution. Federal law may implicitly preempt state law to the extent that state law conflicts with federal regulations. To the extent that a state law would encumber ease of legal transshipment through a zone by requiring unnecessary regulation of goods in which the state has no interest, the law frustrates the goal of the FTZ Act to facilitate use of United States ports for the legal transshipment of goods in foreign commerce [3M Health Care, Ltd. v. Grant, 908 F.2d 918 (11th Cir. 1990)].
FTZ Manual is here: https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/documents/FTZmanual2011.pdf