Posted inBusiness, COVID, Growth, News

First the trade war, now the coronavirus. Jefferson County gets new tool to tackle international trade

With the ongoing woes of an international trade war and now a global pandemic brewing, Dino Dardano, president of Hestra Gloves, is ready to try a new tool available to him as a business in Jefferson County: foreign trade zones. The county became the latest Colorado community awarded the special designation, which lets businesses postpone […]

Posted inBusiness, Environment, Growth, News, Politics and Government

Colorado farmers hopeful as revised free-trade deal with Mexico and Canada approved

Colorado farmers finally see some certainty in their future after two major trade deals passed this week. The U.S. Senate approved the new North American trade deal — the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement — on Thursday and President Donald Trump signed an agreement with China a day earlier. “It gives us assurances where we can go […]

Posted inBusiness, News, Politics and Government

Why Colorado’s corn farmers are getting hurt by China’s soybean tariff

When China added a 25% tax on soybeans in retaliation to U.S. tariffs last year, Colorado’s farming community shrugged it off. Soybeans aren’t much of a crop here. But nationwide, large patches of Midwestern soybean farmland switched to corn. That, in turn, meant more corn would stay in the U.S., driving down prices for Yuma […]

Posted inBusiness, Politics and Government

Colorado companies struggle in search for exclusions to Trump’s tit-for-tat tariff war with China

As Nite Ize legal operations manager Kelly Von Letkemann sifted through legal decisions to learn how to best persuade the federal government to exempt tariffs on products the Boulder company makes in China, some actions made sense. Some made no sense at all. She pointed to Sea Eagle Boats, for example. The family-owned New York […]

Posted inBusiness, News, Politics and Government

Adjusting to life under tariffs, Jefferson County and Grand Junction are pursuing a solution that’s still proving itself in Colorado

Jefferson County and Grand Junction are seeking to become free-trade zones in an effort to attract more business, add jobs and help local companies offset some of the rising cost of international trade. Their applications would provide the regions with a spot for companies to store imported goods and defer or bypass tariff-duty payments. There’s […]

Posted inBusiness, News, Outdoors

China tariffs are translating into higher prices, strategic shifts for the outdoor industry. But “it’s not something you can do overnight.”

The ongoing tariff war is riling the outdoor industry, with gear makers and brands deploying a variety of strategies to handle the Trump administration’s plan to raise tariffs on more than $200 billion worth of Chinese-made products to 25% from 10%. The additional tariffs on things like backpacks, sports bags, ski gloves, kayaks, bikes, camp […]

Posted inBusiness, News, Politics and Government

It’s not just China: The United States’ global trade war has Colorado companies seeking — and finding — workarounds

BROOMFIELD — Colorful spools of thread made and imported from Germany will soon leave this Broomfield warehouse and head to Mexico, skipping any payment of U.S. tariffs. It’s not a random loophole. Part of Amann USA’s facility is located in a Foreign Trade Zone, a property designation that allows manufacturers to defer import taxes until […]