New London The federal government has approved the city’s application to expand its Foreign Trade Zone to all of New London County.
The expansion is viewed by local officials as a way to stimulate economic growth by providing companies with savings on customs duties and other fees. The local Foreign Trade Zone, barely used through the past few decades, is currently reserved to 138 acres surrounding State Pier along with a magnet site in Groton.
Foreign Trade Zones are considered outside the U.S. Customs territory and allow companies importing goods to defer, or in some cases eliminate, customs duties on foreign products coming into the zone for storage, assembly, manufacturing or processing. The zones are the U.S. versions of international free trade zones.