Welcome to 2025!  It’s going to be an interesting year to say the least, and as we enter the third year of our 5-year Advocacy Vision and Plan, I want to let you know about a couple of related items.

One year anniversary of working with Sorini, Samet & Associates

First, we are thrilled to celebrate an important milestone with our government relations advisors, Sorini Samet & Associates LLC. Over the past year, Ron Sorini and Megan Costello have become invaluable members of the NAFTZ family. Their hard work and dedication have driven remarkable advocacy efforts, including conducting facilitating more than 150 federal meetings on key NAFTZ policy priorities. 

Highlights include nearly 40 in-person meetings with Congressional offices during last year’s Legislative Summit. Together, we’ve tackled critical issues such as advocating for de minimis parity for U.S. FTZs, requesting CBP and DHS appropriations to strengthen the FTZ program, addressing FTZ-related challenges within USMCA, and much more.

It’s incredible to reflect on all that’s been achieved in just one year. We thank Ron and Megan for their passion for the U.S. FTZ program, bringing new innovative advocacy strategies to NAFTZ, and demonstrating their tireless commitment to advancing the interests of our members.  This is obviously a significant accomplishment as we work to be more proactive in our advocacy efforts.

What does advocacy success look like?

Obviously, it’s important that the association track and measure our advocacy efforts, and you see evidence in the work put forth in the last year with the numbers above.  While we’re still in the early stages of growing our FTZ advocacy program, we’re experiencing positive results from building and strengthening relationships with federal agencies and legislators.  One such example is the ongoing work with CBP regarding storage of goods suspected of being produced with forced labor in FTZs and the progress announced at our Annual Conference by high-ranking CBP officials this past September in New Orleans.  For another example, I encourage you to read Melissa Irmen’s advocacy article elsewhere in this month’s Zones Report. 

Our success heavily depends on members engaging in our advocacy efforts.  We know that members ability to engage in advocacy varies greatly from person to person, and organization to organization.  We have a number of different ways to get involved.  Our Advocacy Working Groups are a great opportunity to get started.  Meeting monthly, each working group focuses on a group of FTZ issues and help with determining our position on issues, researching details and finding relevant examples of impacts, drafting responses for public comments, etc.  Contact NAFTZ Director of Advocacy, Melissa Irmen at mirmen@naftz.org for more info or to set up a time to talk about your potential engagement interests.

New NAFTZ Trade and Tariff Rapid Response Team

In anticipation of the trade and tariff actions expected from the incoming Trump administration, NAFTZ has formed the new Trade and Tariffs Rapid Response Team (TRRT). This team will help the association quickly dissect and analyze any new information, announcements, directives, proclamations, etc., that may have impacts on zone operations.

The cross-functional team will monitor, assess, and address the evolving trade and tariff landscape, ensuring the NAFTZ proactively educates members and capitalizes on advocacy opportunities. 

Applications for the team were accepted through the end of December with the team members being selected by the Executive Committee shortly after the new year.  We were very happy to see far more interest in serving on this team than anticipated and all applicants being excellent candidates.  In an effort to keep the team nimble and flexible, it was limited to 18 individuals, but the team will likely reach out to additional subject matter experts as issues arise.  The composition of the initial team is:

• Team Lead: Melissa Irmen, NAFTZ Director of Advocacy and Strategic Relations (Staff)
• Robert Balli, Phillips 66 (User/Operator)
• Eric Berry, Copper Hill (Service Provider), NAFTZ Board Vice-Chair
• Leigh Burton, KPMG (Service Provider)
• Patty Cannon, State of Delaware (Grantee), NAFTZ Secretary
• Eric Dalby, Descartes (Service Provider)
• James Grogan, FTI Consulting (Service Provider), NAFTZ Board Chair
• Kirsten Herder, Lam Research Corp (User/Operator)
• Shannon Kastriotis, Tesla (User/Operator)
• Benjamin Kolendar, WTC Utah (Grantee)
• Jason Nichols, Five Below (User/Operator)
• Kate Rayer, Green Worldwide (Service Provider)
• Matt Rebman, Givaudan Flavors Corp (User/Operator)
• Chris Smith, IKEA Purchasing Services U.S. (User/Operator)
• Katie Tangman, Columbia Sportswear (User/Operator), NAFTZ Treasurer
• Nesia Warner-Isidore, EY (Service Provider)
• Rebecca Williams, Rockefeller Group (Service Provider
• Jeff Tafel, NAFTZ President (Staff)

Thanks not only to the members listed above, but also to the other members who expressed interest in serving. 

We look forward to educating and re-educating on Capitol Hill throughout 2025 and continuing the momentum and successes of 2024 in 2025!

Sincerely,

Jeff Tafel

NAFTZ President