What Is It?
Greater Detroit Foreign Trade Zone (GDFTZ) is a user-funded, Michigan nonprofit corporation that provides competitive advantages to companies involved in international trade through deferral, reduction or elimination of U.S. Customs duties. By maximizing the use of foreign trade zones by existing businesses, GDFTZ helps ensure the competitive marketing position of firms in both international and domestic markets.
The U.S. Foreign-Trade Zone Program was created by special legislation of the U.S. Congress in 1934 to stimulate international trade and create jobs and investment in the U.S. rather than abroad. A foreign trade zone (FTZ) is an area within the geographical boundary of the United States that is considered to be outside the Customs territory of the U.S. Companies may bring foreign and domestic merchandise into zones for storage, testing, relabeling, displaying, manufacturing, and for the eventual entry into U.S. commerce or for exportation from the U.S. All Customs duties and federal excise taxes are deferred while merchandise is in a zone and, in many instances, these duties or taxes can be substantially reduced or eliminated through zone use. The growth of the foreign trade zones has been dramatic: as of 1970, 16 zone project had been approved, while today there are nearly 256 general-purpose zones and 498 subzones.
Greater Detroit Foreign Trade Zone, Inc. is one of the largest zone programs in the United States in terms of the value of products leaving the zones and the number of zone sites. In recent years, local firms have annually shipped more than $34 billion in goods from GDFTZ facilities. These goods have typically included automobiles, trucks and auto parts. At the same time, more than $2 billion in goods have been exported annually from the zone.
GDFTZ
- Is among the largest in the United States
- Helps stimulate economic development by providing businesses with facilities for conducting international trade activities
- Is equipped with the latest computerized inventory and release systems
- Provides value-added services, such as testing, repackaging, sampling, relieving, repairing and subassembly
- Offers firms opportunities to cut costs, reduce duty rates and defer tariffs, and helps keep cash flow and the bottom line healthy and strong