This is a fascinating unpacking of how the arcane world of trade logistics intersects with the more headline-grabbing politics of tariffs and nationalism. I really appreciate how you trace the historical roots of FTZs to Smoot-Hawley and connect it to today’s "Liberation Day" moment—it underscores how these economic tools outlast the ideologies that created them, mutating into instruments of convenience, exploitation, or survival depending on who’s using them. Your concept of “national globalism” is especially sharp; it captures the paradox of a world where economic sovereignty increasingly relies on technocratic loopholes. Can’t help but wonder if FTZs are becoming the new terrain of soft power—less visible than sanctions or summits, but just as strategic.
From stories I've written on FTZs over the years, some of the most interesting details to be gleaned from the FTZ Board's website are from those operations approved for FTZ status under the "alternative site framework," essentially a workaround of a workaround that allows FTZ status to be conferred, say, beyond the immediate physical boundaries of a given port authority (as I have understood it). Perhaps ASF is discussed in your book, Atossa. I am only on p. 15 and there is no index to allow me to deviate from a complete front-to-back reading! Your writing is (as Alan Alda would say) clear and vivid, so that makes the reading a pleasure.
I don’t get much into the weeds of ASF in the book but you’re absolutely right - I see it as a big, qualitative change in thinking around FTZs that allows them to be nearly anywhere. (And glad my index laziness is encouraging good reading habits ;))
Thanks Atossa, your topics are consistently on-target and fun to read. Going by a « Port-franc » you know so well almost daily, I think of the old adage: you want to know who dunnit? Follow the money. When someone is so fixated and insistent on tariffs, against all logic, I would be really interested to know who will be standing by to collect all the money rolling into the FTZ operations. Any ideas?
This is a fascinating unpacking of how the arcane world of trade logistics intersects with the more headline-grabbing politics of tariffs and nationalism. I really appreciate how you trace the historical roots of FTZs to Smoot-Hawley and connect it to today’s "Liberation Day" moment—it underscores how these economic tools outlast the ideologies that created them, mutating into instruments of convenience, exploitation, or survival depending on who’s using them. Your concept of “national globalism” is especially sharp; it captures the paradox of a world where economic sovereignty increasingly relies on technocratic loopholes. Can’t help but wonder if FTZs are becoming the new terrain of soft power—less visible than sanctions or summits, but just as strategic.
From stories I've written on FTZs over the years, some of the most interesting details to be gleaned from the FTZ Board's website are from those operations approved for FTZ status under the "alternative site framework," essentially a workaround of a workaround that allows FTZ status to be conferred, say, beyond the immediate physical boundaries of a given port authority (as I have understood it). Perhaps ASF is discussed in your book, Atossa. I am only on p. 15 and there is no index to allow me to deviate from a complete front-to-back reading! Your writing is (as Alan Alda would say) clear and vivid, so that makes the reading a pleasure.
I don’t get much into the weeds of ASF in the book but you’re absolutely right - I see it as a big, qualitative change in thinking around FTZs that allows them to be nearly anywhere. (And glad my index laziness is encouraging good reading habits ;))
Thanks Atossa, your topics are consistently on-target and fun to read. Going by a « Port-franc » you know so well almost daily, I think of the old adage: you want to know who dunnit? Follow the money. When someone is so fixated and insistent on tariffs, against all logic, I would be really interested to know who will be standing by to collect all the money rolling into the FTZ operations. Any ideas?
This is a great question I don’t know the answer to… yet!