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Foreign Trade Zones


Illinois International

What does free trade look like? In the US, it’s foreign. Congress passed the Foreign-Trade Zones Act at the height of the Depression, to coax liquid capital back across regulatory borders. FTZs start at ports, then work their way inland. They’re used for tariff-free trade, but also for manufacturing with foreign components. First they were surrounded by barbed wire, now by electronic fences. Through a labyrinth of legal channels, offshore comes onshore.