Fifteen months after Rhode Island became a statewide foreign trade zone, only one company has taken advantage. While the benefits, which include reduced tariffs and more flexibility in paying them, won’t help many businesses, lack of awareness of the opportunities may be a bigger reason for the decidedly slow pace of activity.
State officials a year ago said they had received numerous inquiries about the expanded trade zone designation, which previously applied to only three sites in the state. But in this week’s cover story, John Riendeau, R.I. Commerce Corp.’s director of business development, says getting the word out remains a challenge. Avi Nevel, CEO and president of the Rhode Island-Israel Collaborative, agrees.
“They’re not used because people don’t know about them,” he said of the state’s trade zone opportunities.
Many Rhode Island businesses do take advantage of other state and local resources to benefit from foreign trade. Mr. Nevel, for example, recently accompanied Gov. Gina M. Raimondo on a trip to Israel to try to boost business for local companies.
But the statewide trade zone designation clearly represents untapped potential for importers and exporters.
Mr. Riendeau says manufacturers and wholesale distribution companies are among those likely to benefit, because of the tariff benefits they’d see on imported materials.
With manufacturing, in particular, facing uncertain growth prospects, time spent exploring trade zone benefits could be one of the best investments local manufacturers could make in the new year.