Programs

The Advocacy Center can help exporters of U.S. goods and services compete for and win foreign government procurements. Assistance is available to U.S. businesses across industry for projects ranging from small contracts to large multi-year efforts. Each year, trillions of dollars in foreign government procurement opportunities are put out for competitive bidding.

The U.S. Commercial Service (CS), part of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration, offers companies a full range of expertise in international trade. Companies can find assistance locally in more than 100 U.S. CS offices nationwide and in more than 70 international offices.

Foreign-trade zones are designated sites licensed by the Foreign-Trade Zones (FTZ) Board (Commerce Secretary is Chairperson) at which special customs procedures may be used. These procedures allow domestic activity involving foreign items to take place prior to formal customs entry. Duty-free treatment is accorded to items that are re-exported, and duty payment is deferred on items sold in the U.S. market, thus offsetting customs advantages available to overseas producers who compete with producers located in the United States. Subzones/usage-driven sites are approved for a specific company/use. A site that has been granted zone status may not be used for zone activity until the site, or a section thereof has been separately approved for FTZ activation by local U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials and the zone activity remains under the supervision of CBP. FTZ sites and facilities remain within the jurisdiction of local, state, or federal governments or agencies.