What You Need to Know About the New Steel and Aluminum Tariffs

posted by Tina Weyant

Yesterday, President Trump signed a Presidential Proclamation regarding the imports of steel, and a second Proclamation regarding the imports of aluminum.  

A 25% additional duty on steel and a 10% additional duty on aluminum products will become effective on March 23, 2018 for all countries, except Mexico and Canada for now.

Steel Articles
Steel articles are defined with reference to the following U.S. Harmonized Tariff Schedule's  6-digit subheadings:

• 7206.10 through 7216.50 
• 7216.99 through 7301.10 
• 7302.10 
• 7302.40 through 7302.90 
• 7304.10 through 7306.90 

Aluminum Articles
Aluminum articles are defined as follows:

• HTS 7601 - unwrought aluminum 
• HTS 7604  - aluminum bars, rods, and profiles
• HTS 7605 - aluminum wire
• HTS 7606 and 7607 - flat rolled aluminum products, including plate, sheet, strip, and foil
• HTS 7608 and 7609 - aluminum tubes and pipes and tube and pipe fitting 
• HTS 7616.99.51.60 and 7616.99.51.70 -  aluminum castings and forgings 

These rules include any subsequent revisions to the HTS classifications

Possible Product Exclusions via a Petition Process:

There will be a petition-based, product exclusion process run by the Department of Commerce, based on the following standard of whether the article is: 

• produced in the United States "in a sufficient and reasonably available amount or of a satisfactory quality"  or 
• subject to specific national security considerations

Petitions need to be filed by a directly affected party located in the United States.  The US Dept. of Commerce will issue formal procedures for this process by March 18th.

Possible Country Exclusions:

Imports from Canada and Mexico are exempted from the additional duty for now.  Imports from countries with which the United States has a security relationship are encouraged to discuss with the Administration alternative ways to address the threatened impairment of the national security presented by imports from their country.

Thank you Ted Murphy, of Baker McKenzie 

for background details regarding this article

We would like to know how the new tariffs affect the ability of your company to compete globally.

Please take the survey here 

Recap: 4th Annual State of the Ports Address

posted by Katrina Chan

WTC Harrisburg successfully hosted its Annual State of the Ports Address on 22 February at the Sheraton Harrisburg-Hershey Hotel. 

The State of the Ports Address was the perfect opportunity for companies who wanted to expand internationally to get to know their local port authorities and to network with different business who also attended the event.

This year's speakers were Marie Byers, Dominic O'Brien and Scott Merlo from Harrisburg International Airport, Phila Port, Customs and Border Protection. 

Our speakers presented very informative, useful updates about the Philadelphia port as well as additional knowledge to makes it easier for local companies to understand the importing and exporting process. Attendees found the event to be very insightful and useful, especially companies within the manufacturing business who plan on expanding their business internationally. 

We would like to thank our sponsors and partners:

Gold:

Foreign-Trade Zone 147

Silver:

Fulton International Group

Harrisburg International Airport

UPS

Bronze:

Phila Port

Partners:

MANTEC

Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development

This event would not have been successful without their support and generosity!

2017 Recap: Annual Holiday Luncheon and Reception

Posted by Katrina Chan

Annual 21st Holiday Luncheon

The World Trade Center Harrisburg team hosted the annual holiday luncheon on December 1st at the Out Door Country Club, York, PA for board members, members and sponsors. The luncheon started with an opening reception and light refreshments were served.

Tina Weyant presented the opening speech, highlighting key events that happened in 2017 - one big update being the move from York to the new Harrisburg World Trade Center Building.

This luncheon marked Jan Kreidler's last event as an employee of the WTC. Jan has been diligently working at the World Trade for the past 15 years. All of us at the World Trade Center will miss her, but we wish her all the best with retirement.

Jan's Appreciation

For this year's holiday luncheon, intern Katrina Chan delivered a lively and informative presentation about holiday customs and gift giving traditions in Malaysia.

For more information about Malaysia, the link to her presentation is here (including video links).

The luncheon ended with a short networking session accompanied with an assortment of desserts.

We would like to thank attendees and members joining us in celebrating another successful year.

We would also like to thank the following event sponsors:

Gold
Central Pennsylvania Foreign Trade Zone

Silver
Fulton International Group
Harrisburg Academy
Mantec
Stambaugh Ness
UPS
York County Economic Alliance

This event was made possible because of their generosity!

Bringing the World to PA 2017

Posted by Katrina Chan, Intern

This past week, The World Trade Center Harrisburg  in conjunction with the Pennsylvania’s Department of Community and Economic Development hosted the 18th annual Bringing the World to PA . The event kicked-off at 7:30AM on Thursday, September 14, 2017 with registration which was followed by breakfast.

Appointments with PA’s Trade Offices:
PA’s authorized trade representatives meet with local firms eager to expand and grow their businesses. Companies had the opportunity to meet one on one with trade representatives throughout the day to discuss international market opportunity and map out a strategy that was custom fit to their respective businesses. These representatives cover 47 different international markets for Pennsylvania. 

All of Pennsylvania's Authorized Trade Representatives include:

Australia/New Zealand....Ms. Angela Foley

Canada.......................Ms. Nancy Ward

Central/Eastern Europe….Ms. Pavlina Becvarova

China.........................Mr. Nik Snyder

Germany.....................Ms. Franziska Wegerich

India..........................Ms. Supriya Kanetkar

Korea.........................Mr. Steve Shin

Mexico ...................... Ms. Lorena Ozuna

Middle East Region.........Mr. Seth Vogelman

Netherlands/Belgium......Mr. Henk-Jan Broeksma

Saudi Arabia...............  Mr. Will Brodt

Singapore................... Ms. May Abrera

Taiwan ..................... Ms. Irene Tsai, Ms. Amy Pan

United Arab Emirate...... Ms. Arshi Shaikh

United Kingdom............ Mr. Martin Lewis

Companies that attended the event represented a broad range of industries that manufacture unique products. 

Lunch Reception:
Lunch was served at the Sheraton-Harrisburg Hotel where the event was held. This year’s keynote speaker was Kieran Dolan, the VP of Bank of Ireland Global Markets.

Lunch at the Sheraton-Harrisburg Hotel

Dolan’s insightful message included a background and analysis of the market in Ireland, United States, and an overview of the Ireland-US trade relationship

Representatives from UPS, Fulton Financial Corporation and Stambaugh Ness

A networking session followed shortly after lunch, allowing companies, exhibitors, sponsors and trade representatives to connect. The day ended late afternoon at 4pm.


Special Thank You to our Sponsors
The World Trade Center would like to thank its sponsors and partners for their kind support for the Bringing the world to PA Annual Event. 

Our Silver Level Sponsors:
Stambaugh Ness
UPS
York County Economic Alliance

Our Bronze Level Sponsors:
Bank of Ireland
Fulton Financial Cooperation 

Strategic Partners:
MANTEC
PA's Office of International Business Development

Our annual event is yet again another success because of their generosity.