YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Sixteen representatives of nine regional companies that do business all over the world didn’t have to travel far to refresh their technical expertise on global trade.
The Ohio Small Business Development Center Export Assistance Network at Youngstown State University on Wednesday presented a daylong training session designed to help these companies navigate the sometimes complex compliance standards that affect international business every day.
“It touches upon the exporting process from A to Z,” said Mousa Kassis, director of the Export Assistance Network. “We show how to be compliant with the United States’ rules and regulations, how to have the correct documents and the correct classifications,” he said, in order for shipments to move through foreign customs free of problems.
The Export Assistance Network covers 13 counties in Ohio, stretching from Ashtabula to Coshocton, Kassis said. In this region, 15% of revenue is attributed to dollars realized from exports. “It’s one of the highest in Ohio percentage wise and the third highest in the country,” he said.
A significant amount of administrative and compliance tasks comes with the territory, Kassis said. For example, among the difficulties companies often encounter is properly identifying stakeholders in the process – banks, shipping companies, forwarders, trucking companies, customs departments – that play a vital role in these global transactions. “We identify each segment of them and how to deal with each one of them,” he noted.
Wednesday’s training consisted of six modules: structuring export sales to foreign markets; contract negotiation and meetings; product classification; Incoterms (standard terms used in exporting/importing sales contracts) and logistics; export documents and freight forwarders; and export controls and government agencies.
Those participating in the training receive a certificate of completion.
“The takeaway is that they become more confident in the export process,” Kassis said.
The training is a new approach for the Export Assistance Network, Kassis said. In the past, the organization would host seminars spanning two to three hours on particular topics. “We find it more beneficial to companies to get the full training instead of bits and pieces of the exporting process,” he said.
Kassis said the plan is to host these sessions two or three times per year. “We cover the whole process,” he said.
“They’ve helped both on the export and import side for our finished goods,” Nick Miller, vice president of technical services at Kent Displays Inc., Kent, said of the Export Assistance Network. The company manufactures consumer products that use liquid crystal technology for home and office purposes, health care, education and other functions.
Among the company’s biggest sellers is its Boogie Board, a reusable writing tablet that contains a liquid crystal screen and is used for art, design, note taking and other purposes.
Miller said the company manufactures the liquid crystal film at its plant in Kent, then exports that film to other countries where it’s turned into finished product, such as a Boogie Board. The products are then shipped back to the U.S. for sale.
Wednesday’s training helps executives keep abreast of changes in international trade regulations, such as HTS, or Harmonized Tariff Schedule, codes.
Tariffs are a tax placed on goods imported to the United States from other countries, causing the price of these items to increase.
Since Kent Displays engages in both importing and exporting, the company is placed in the middle of tariff policies enacted by the United States as well as other countries, Miller said. President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to raise tariff rates initially by 10% – with the potential to increase – on products shipped to the U.S. from China, for example, until that country demonstrates progress in stanching the flow of illegal drugs such as fentanyl out of the country. Trump has also vowed to slap a blanket 25% tariff on Mexico and Canada until these countries crack down on the influx of illegal drugs and migrants moving across the border.
“We’re starting to do more manufacturing domestically, anticipating that these tariffs are only going to get worse,” Miller said. “Exporting is going to be a bigger piece of our business, so we thought it would be beneficial to come here today.”
Kassis said he is hopeful that any proposed new tariffs would not be enacted in full, fearing that retaliatory tariffs from other countries would make it difficult for U.S. exporters to ship their products to global markets such as China.
“We deal with $600 billion with China alone,” Kassis said, noting higher prices on goods shipped from overseas could impact American consumers. “I’m hoping other countries can come to terms with the United States and level the playing field.”
Pictured at top: Mousa Kassis, director of the Export Assistance Network.