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The FTZ Board received notification from Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc. proposing production activity within Foreign Trade Zone 72 in Lafayette, Indiana covering passenger motor vehicles. The notification, published June 8, 2026, initiates a public comment period before the Board determines whether to authorize the activity. FTZ status affects the duty calculation on imported components used in domestic vehicle assembly.
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The June 8, 2026 Federal Register publication is the proximate trigger, initiating the mandatory public notice and comment process required before the FTZ Board can authorize new or expanded production activity. The structural driver is the ongoing commercial incentive for vehicle assemblers to use FTZ status to manage duty liability on imported parts, particularly given elevated Section 232 and Section 301 tariff exposure on automotive components.
FTZ production authorizations for domestic vehicle assembly enjoy broad bipartisan tolerance because they are framed as supporting US manufacturing employment even when foreign components are involved. There is no prominent opposition coalition in the record for this notification; the relevant cross-pressure in the current environment is the tension between FTZ duty deferral or inversion benefits and the administration's stated preference for onshoring component supply chains.
Japan is the country associated with this notification in the briefing record, reflecting Subaru's Japanese corporate parentage and likely Japanese-origin component supply. FTZ authorization does not insulate the assembler from applicable Section 232 automotive tariffs on imported components, so the practical duty benefit depends on how those tariffs interact with the FTZ inverted-tariff mechanism.