AAEI conference tidbits

AAEI conference tidbits    The American Association of Exporters and Importers held its annual conference in New York on June 6-7. Here are some of my favorite moments:

   ' Alan Bersin, commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, compared outdated rules on duty drawback to the antique cars still used as a primary means of transportation in Cuba.
   Drawback allows customs duties paid on imported goods to be refunded when the imported good or a substituted good is exported from the United States.
   Proposed rule changes and legislation intended to simplify the drawback process, such as requiring electronic filing of drawback claims and imposing objective drawback eligibility requirements, have been stalled for years.
   'It reminds me a little bit of the cars you see in Cuba on a church or civic mission — approved of course by Treasury (because of the U.S. embargo on travel and trade). These are old 1950s cars, in which the communist regime has run out of parts and they've even run out of the ingenuity to fix. So you see these relics of the 1950s.
   'I consider drawback to be a little bit like that. We need to fix it.'

Bersin

   ' The day before his speech to AAEI, Bersin visited the Customs checkpoint at John F. Kennedy International Airport. He put on the blue officer uniform to get a hands-on feel for processing international travelers and declared goods entering the country, while looking for contraband.
   His 16-year-old daughter asked him if he was starring in an episode of Employer Under Cover.
   'I said, no, I'm not so undercover. But I did get a chance to see what our people experience in airports.'
   The exercise helped him appreciate the professionalism of frontline personnel who have to make judgments as they go through a series of automated processes, he said.

   ' 'Ladies and gentlemen, I look forward to being here a year from now.' — Bersin's parting comment was an allusion to the fact that he might be out of office by the end of the year if the U.S. Senate does not confirm him.
   Bersin was a recess appointment in March 2010 by President Obama, who used a legislative loophole to install him when the confirmation process dragged out. Bersin must be confirmed by the end of the Senate's term this year to remain in office. So far there has been no indication from the Senate Finance Committee that it plans to consider Bersin's nomination any time soon.

Napolitano

   ' 'It's a delight to be here, to be back in New York City, the city of my birth by the way, although I never admitted that when I was campaigning for office in Arizona.' — Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, the former attorney general and governor of Arizona, said as she took the podium at the AAEI conference.

   ' 'I'm going to speak, and then we're going to have questions. So, think about, if you have your chance with the secretary of homeland security, what do you want to ask? And then ask something else.' — Napolitano, warming up the AAEI crowd.

   ' The DHS secretary noted that her job is focused on domestic security, but that 40 percent of her time is spent on matters that are international in nature. Her point was that the United States is part of a global environment and that homeland security starts overseas by making sure that the international system for travel and trade is safe.

   ' Protecting the global supply chain and making it resilient in the face of disruptions will be a slow, difficult process, Napolitano said. Nations can make progress when 'we stick to our guns' on collaborating on supply chain security.
   'Probably that was not the most appropriate metaphor. When we stand strong and keep our long-term goals in mind it will make it easier for us to surmount those bumps in the road,' she said in a joking attempt to be politically correct.

   ' Pet Peeve: Government officials who can't properly name programs or agencies under their jurisdiction. On three separate occasions during her AAEI speech, Napolitano referred to the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism as 'C-PAT.'
   She missed the 'T' in C-TPAT.
   I was prepared to give her a pass the first time. Maybe she spoke too fast. The second time, I still was going to give her the benefit of the doubt. It's easy to make a verbal typo when speaking in public.
   But the third time indicated that she needs to brush up on her agency acronyms.
   Don't feel bad Madame Secretary. The next day I was covering a press conference at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in conjunction with the release of a report calling for more efficient management of the Southwest border.
   Tom Ridge, a former DHS secretary and chairman of the U.S. Chamber's National Security Task Force, referred to C-TPAT as 'C-PAT' too.
   Just don't make the mistake of calling Customs and Border Protection, one of your own agencies, Customs and Border Patrol. I've heard congressmen and others goof up the name many times.

   ' During a panel discussion on doing business in emerging economies, Evan Chuck, an international trade lawyer for Bryan Cave LLP, described the challenge U.S. companies face complying with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which prohibits the paying of bribes to foreign officials.
   Chuck said that when he opened the firm's office in Shanghai five years ago, the fire inspector paid a visit. As he entered, the inspector made a point of hitting his head on a glass wall in the office and then put his hand out, indicating he needed some money before certifying that the office met the fire code.
   The implication was that someone, perhaps a firefighter, could get hurt moving through the building, but that the problem could be taken care of with a payoff.
   'And I thought, 'Oh boy, we're going to be here a long time.' I told him, no. We're an American law firm, there's nothing I can do.'
   Chuck said he smoothed over the situation by sitting the inspector down in the conference room with some green tea and talking to him about the company, how it's part of the local community and will be paying lots of local taxes.
   He eventually won the man over by establishing a relationship and waiting him out.
   Call it the art of diplomacy.