Stay Up-to-Date with International Trade Rules

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Benita Lee 0:05
So I believe that in your career, if you want to, like, stay on top of your game, you need to continually push yourself and take courses regularly

Annik 0:19
before we get started with the show. Here’s a quick word from our sponsor, global Training Center. As trade compliance professionals, you want to make sure that your procedures and documentation are completed as correctly as possible to avoid any delays and possible fines, we provide a range of trade compliance courses that will fit your needs, from in person or web training to recorded on demand courses we can train one or even 1000s on your team through your learning platform or on our portal. We can even customize a private session for your team. Go to global training center.com to find out more.

Andy 0:52
All right, Lalo, we’re back for another show today with simply trade and if for those that are our listeners, I hope you’re staying warm. We have we’re recording this and in the February timeframe, whenever it gets published. But all of us have been suffering from a lot of cold. There’s been a cold blast that has come down out of Canada and mixed with some southern humidity. So it’s like, either, you know, here in the Memphis area, it’s I’m looking out the door or the window, excuse me, and the there’s ice on our trees. And literally, there are trees that are hanging over because of so much ice. So, you know, I’d rather shovel it than see this ice situation here. But anyway, Lalo, I don’t know about how are things down in El Paso, buddy, you staying warm?

Lalo 1:49
Yeah, I feel, I feel bad, but it’s actually 60 degrees and and sunny, and little bit of wind. Dog,

Andy 2:00
Oh, I love it. That’s a heat wave, buddy. Yeah?

Lalo 2:04
For you all, yeah. For us, it’s freezing, yeah? But anyway,

Andy 2:09
I will say the thing, well, it’s like out of that. It’s, you know, everybody’s had their challenges where they’re having to, if you will, work from home. I’m sure on a lot of it, that’s what’s happened in the Memphis area for the last couple of days here. And then it’s really severely disrupted the supply chain on several different modes, from trucking to air cargo and air Express. And, you know, I don’t know about the East Coast yet, but I know they’re going to be getting hit. So,

Lalo 2:45
yeah, it’s not a fun time. No, it isn’t. And I think that may actually be a good way to introduce the show, only because so for a couple of years, a lot of us had to work from home. I mean, for sure, the first year after, when the pandemic first started, we all were asked to shelter in place, you know, and work from home and all that. And so, you know, the streets were, were all empty almost any given city. And so we all got back to the office. I know we did. A lot of people started getting back into the office. And so this remote thing, I think, to me, might be a good way to introduce the show, only because we’re going to want to talk about educating, education, having resources, having things at your disposal to be able to do your job better and and so Benita, so that’s going to be our guest today. I’m sorry I kind of preempted that, but Benita Lee, she’s coming on our show. She’s going to talk to us. She’s obviously been and for those that may know her, and I will introduce her here in a little bit, and we’ll talk to her a little bit about her background, but she’s been involved in a lot of different like organizations or initiatives to have people advance her career, per se, right? Andy, I guess that’s probably the best way to say it, but she works with Kelly in mentoring people as well. And so it’s all about career and and education. So that’s more or less the theme of this show. And again, I just kind of wanted to say, I guess it’s cold weather people working remotely, you kind of need to depend that your employees know what they’re doing, you know and and be able to communicate better because you’re not in the same office and and be able to get continue to ship products.

Andy 4:49
Well, this is one where, if you’ve got some downtime, I mean, how often does an individual get some. You know, yes, you’re working from home, or whatever the case may be, and you may have a little bit of quiet time with that is a great opportunity to, you know, just take a pad and just have it and just don’t have an agenda, as far as trying to, you know, look at this one. Just start jotting down ideas. And one of the things that comes into play is, especially if you are in any form of leadership. How sharp is your staff? How knowledgeable are they? What can you do to make them more proficient in whatever areas, and what areas should that be I mean, as you start going through that, so I will say Benina is going to be one that I’ve always had the pleasure of getting to see her at some of the conferences and and whatnot. So Benina, I tell you, thank you for joining our show. You are. I’m really looking forward to this conversation. You and I have not gotten to actually talk together in quite some time, but it’s always a great pleasure. Just even get to see you and talk to you here. Welcome to our show.

Benita Lee 6:12
Thank you. It’s my pleasure and my honor, of course.

Andy 6:17
So from that perspective, you kind of, we’ve kind of teed it up for you, from your perspective, when you come in and, well, first off, tell, let’s, let’s talk a little bit of it. Once you tell everybody what you’re doing, because you have been down in the states and and I saw where, you know, obviously we’re talking there. And last year you moved back up into Canada, in a beautiful part of Canada, by the way. So once you tell folks what you’re up to nowadays,

Benita Lee 6:50
that’s right. I come from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, home of the Canadian Rockies. We’re the ones that threw you that cold weather, apparently. Andy,

Andy 7:03
yes, it’s like, hey, you know what? You can take it back.

Benita Lee 7:09
Um, so you know, my education has been the first the first decade of my education was really supply chain, like a lot of us, and then the next 15 years were spent on trade compliance, specifically, first import into Canada and then export into the US. A lot of that is because a lot of multinational companies in Canada have entities in the US. And I’ve worked for companies that have, you know, 20% imports into Canada and then 80% exports into the US. So it’s, it’s been very important to continuously learn and find those tools and resources and mentors that can really guide your career development in those ways, because It’s a huge, huge industry, right? I may know Free Trade Agreement programs better than anyone else, because I’ve been in a NAFTA audit. But then there’s other people that would know Incoterms 10,000 times better than me, because they’re the ones that are, you know, inside the system selecting which Incoterm to use on which contract,

Andy 8:47
right? Well, your your experience, knowledge. I’m going to look forward to here as we kind of tap that a little bit. I will say one of the things in general, especially when I I’ve worked, you know, I was up in Canada for five years, up in the Toronto area and and I had from Windsor all the way up to Ottawa and then, and then we reorged and put the Ottawa group into their eastern region. And then I had central and had a counterpart in the West that said is I in general, in talking with Canadian business people, I find that Canadians as a whole, business wise, are a bit more knowledgeable in cross border requirements, both as far as export of Canada and import in the US versus US business people, is, to your point, a Canadian business? Yeah, 20% Canadian domestic, 80% International, with a bulk of that going to the US versus in. The US, the US market and economy. Let me rephrase it. The US economy is so vast that there’s a lot of US companies that would have, let’s say it may be as much as 90, 95% domestic, and only like 10 or fifth, five to 10% International. So as such, the people are not as quite as knowledgeable on some of the requirements, and therefore, you know, we have what we have. But anyway,

Benita Lee 10:29
so because I had always wondered why, you know, my American counterparts were split up into import teams and export teams, and I hadn’t really thought about that, except that it’s a bigger population, and they want more more specificity, I guess. But yeah, that’s the real the DNA makeup of a Canadian is that they’re largely based in these firms that have a lot of export, oh yeah, going into the US, like as and as though you were an entity, like a non resident entity in the US, importing. But that’s not the case in the US.

Annik 11:14
Hey, everyone, we’re getting ready for another annual icpa event coming up the week of March 12, in Orlando, Florida, if you have been thinking of attending any of the ICBA conferences, this is the one you should not miss. There will be more sessions than any other conference with a guaranteed sellout, so hurry and get your tickets today. We are also excited to share that simply trade podcast will be in attendance, and we want you to be part of our show. Listen to episodes 1415, and 16 to find out why you could miss this conference.

Andy 11:46
Well and again, the scenario too is that, if you look at it across the board, Canadian businesses, their frontline staff are going to be trained, if you will. Here’s what you got to have for the paperwork, here and there, whatever, because most of them are going to touch some kind of an international transaction on the US side, if you look at it there, yeah, there may be an import department, but that’s all they’re dealing with for the entire you know, company. So you have one department, so they concentrate the resources into one area, in a sense, or even if it’s matrix, but it’s there it is. So it makes sense, because the span of control, whatever the number of transactions, now you’ve developed some proficiency in an area that said, here’s a question for you, though, from your perspective, when you go in, and if you try and help somebody you know in the US in particular here, build some kind of a efficient and proficient department. What would you recommend to somebody, as far as if they’re leading an effort and they’ve they’re building a team, or have a team that’s already built. Either one. What would you recommend, as far as from your perspective on what you’ve seen, you know, what should they do? What, where should they go with this kind of stuff to get them up and running?

Benita Lee 13:13
I think the number one thing is make sure you have connections with, you know, people outside of your trade compliance team, like, if your supply chain, make sure you have finance connections, you have tax connections, you have law a lot lawyer connections and risk connections, and maybe even insurance, right? Because all of those departments are really going to help you form your customs department. If there’s nothing been done, I always go about it with like a make sure your audit ready, you know, and getting the internal auditors in on it, because a lot of times the customs department is like one man team, right? Who hasn’t been part of a one man team in customs compliance here or trade, right? And so if you have the resources to draw from, from these multi these multi disciplines, you’re a lot better off than if you’re going at it on your own with the internal auditor part. I want to just expand on that a little bit like, Who else knows how to build internal controls? Who else knows how to write audit reports on you know where your gaps are, your findings are, where you could have areas of improvement like I think we’ve been under utilizing the internal auditors in our companies. I.

Andy 15:00
Yeah, well, to that point again, you’re you’re not a lone wolf. So, I mean, it’s like trying to reach out there is fantastic. Now that said, trying to get proficient with some of these also is like putting in the controls. Comes back to writing policies, policies and procedures and things of that nature. That comes back into some of your training, some of the things that with the staff and and so what do you look at is like, so you establish relationships. What next? I mean, I’m kind of saw throwing you a softball,

Benita Lee 15:37
getting training. I’m a lifelong learner, so I believe that it never stops, and regardless of if I’ve been to a conference or a a training on a certain topic like Incoterms or HS classification or duty drawbacks, or ACD, ACDC, add CBC.

Andy 16:07
I was just gonna say you’re going through the anti dumping thing,

Benita Lee 16:14
anti dumping and countervailing duties. Regardless of what topic it is, sanctions, you’re always going to learn something new from a repeat topic. So I believe that in your career, if you want to, like, stay on top of your game, you need to continually push yourself and take courses regularly. And I mean, like, on a on a system, like, every quarter I need to get one certificate. Every month. I need to go to one webinar, that type of thing, excellent. Like, if you would, I have a question, if you were to have, like a mini, like a mini, not an MBA, but like a mini trade compliance course. Um, what would those like six courses or four courses look to you? Like? What would the titles be like? Let’s build something

Lalo 17:19
Well, well, I mean, I can tell you like it with global Training Center, what we do right now. I mean, we don’t have a package like that, the closest thing that we have, and I’ll give you a really good idea, because right now we’re actually in the middle of that is something called building blocks for trade compliance. Okay, it’s really neat in that it’s a it’s a cohort. We everybody starts at the same time and ends at the same time. And it’s not a traditional like a webinar, like you’re in and out on the same day. It’s more like a college semester, where you go over several weeks and you learn several things. You take E Learning recorded classes, you take live courses. We you’re forced to, not forced to, but you’re asked to, I shouldn’t said force. You’re asked to participate by by have discussions based on that week’s curriculum. You you’ll have a weekly exam, etc, you know. But the really neat, and there’s a life aspect to it as well. But the really neat thing is that, to answer your question, this is building everybody. So anybody who is starting from the bottom that that doesn’t really know about trade, or even for managers, you know that that don’t really need to know everything about trade, but they they manage a team that includes trade compliance. You know, like you said, you need to have connections. And the manager of tax, for example, that’s that usually, almost used to always be who trade compliance reported to. I don’t know if they that’s still the case, right and then, but yeah, and they don’t need to really know everything about trade, but so what we do is that we include everything. So what six things? I mean, I we have 100 things. But anyway, the core stuff, we always say, building a foundation like, like, tariff classification, right, getting to know your your your how to work with brokers or service providers. And then we, always transition into importing, getting to know everything that there is an importing, and all the aspects of importing. And then we go into exporting. And also, again, getting to know all the aspects of exporting, including things like controls, et cetera. And also we call at the very last week, we call it putting it all together, or wrapping up the whole thing. You know, it’s just full circle, right? What do you need to know other things within trade, like how to use ace, for example, that’s a very good thing that you should everybody should know how to use, not how to use, but what are ink? What does Incoterms mean? Whether you use them or not. But what do they mean? You know, letters of credit, bunch of things like that. So those that’s how we would package something like that. However, you know, it. Everybody may have a different way of learning, but, but in a sense, that’s almost like what we may end up doing to teach the whole aspect of trade compliance.

Benita Lee 20:21
I cut some like two things you said there that are really good building blocks. So we have relationship building training and then managing your service providers and going out for RFP or RFI with Customs brokers and freight forwarders like those are all really key pieces of the operational part of a trade compliance department and career development if you don’t Know how to manage service providers and the contract it’s going to be really hard for you

Andy 21:07
getting proficient with that is the key is, like, where, where do you learn that? So that’s, again, that’s part of that strategic thinking, putting things together, as you’re just talking about, of of you know, getting your staff up to speed

Benita Lee 21:24
this stuff. Like, you can’t just go learn out there. Like, Let’s take, for example, like, 2014 I was in a job that asked me to go down to the Bureau of Industry and Security to participate in an industry outreach regarding the Russian sanctions because they had just annexed Crimea, and it’s like there’s nothing that would have prepared me for that, right? I mean, nobody handled such a situation since the Cold War so and at that time, I remember listening to my mentor Ron oika, whom you might remember, he said, You know, there’s nobody that they could have hired for this job, like there’s, you couldn’t go out there and say, We’re under voluntary disclosure, a prior disclosure, and Russian sanctions are a responsibility of this role. So you kind of had to, like, put it all together. And I think that that’s where a business degree, an international trade degree, came in handy, is that you had to have a real geo political kind of mindset to understand how that outside economy and environment impacted your tiny little sphere of control in the trade compliance role of a, you know, a company that did business in the US, Canada and Russia. So you gotta have an

Andy 23:19
well, to your point, let me, let me say this, you’re you’re hitting on something. It’s like you’ve talking about, you know, your business degree and in trade, compliance, education and those kinds of things. A person going through that what that knowledge does. And this is why it’s important to continue on. Whether you’re getting a degree or not? Are you getting a certificate or not, or whatever the case may be, it’s not if it’s when you come across some kind of serious issue,

Benita Lee 23:51
and then, isn’t it funny that you know, like some companies suggest that their employees shouldn’t leave their desk to go to a trade conference, because it’s just like, but when, when a when a company is hit with that, right? It’s like you expect the person to be able to report to executive management. But where would they have learned the skills to do that? And I think one of the best ways to do that is to be networking around senior leaders, ex and experts in the field at these conferences, because then you can you have a buddy to call and say, Hey, this is what I’m encountering with our company. How do you think I should explain Yeah, what have you done? Or think I should explain that to the VP of or the director of or the CEO, right,

Lalo 24:47
right? And you bring up a good point, Benita now that at the time of this recording, we’re coming upon what a lot of us like to call conference season, right, starting in March with icpa. April. I think it’s NCB FAA May, I believe is aaei and and I think June, July, I think is another NCB FAA. So there’s quite a few conferences coming up here in the next few months. And so what would you say? I mean, I guess you’re an employee, and you know, it’s valuable for that. And many maybe management doesn’t feel it’s important for you, like you said, to leave the desk. And to that point, how, how would you feel that someone like that can justify it?

Andy 25:30
That’s a good question.

Benita Lee 25:32
You know, what I found on the icpa website is a form with your registration. So, like, even if you think that you’re not going to get approved, go on to the ICP website, click on Orlando and find the form that says business justification, because they now have a business justification sheet that you can fill out. And I was just like, wow, that’s just next level, and it’s not very expensive, like, I’ve been to the ncbfa ones, and they’re kind of a bigger deal like, and not as family orientated like, well,

Lalo 26:11
they all, they all address different things, you know. So, so you know, all their conferences, even though there’s 567, of them out there, honestly speaking, you can go to every one of them and you’ll learn different things in each one of them, a different point of view, right? More, right? And, and, and, yeah, I was gonna say, and someone might be thinking, Well, why am I gonna semi employed Orlando? They’re gonna have fun. I mean, well, they’re gonna have fun because they’re geeking out with people like their own peers. But believe me, I’ve been to ICBA in many, many different cities, and it’s rare that I see that city. You know what? I mean? It’s, it’s mostly we’re in that conference, and we’re learning, you know, it’s not like we’re out writing, you know the splash? Well, I guess that doesn’t exist anymore, but whatever, why

Benita Lee 27:01
I have the hashtag I speak custom ease is not to differentiate myself, but to really connect with everybody out there who speaks the same language, like you guys, right? Like the trade nerds that it’s like we all have this complex where, you know, when I talk the trade compliance stuff. Nobody else understands what I’m talking about.

Andy 27:25
The deer in the headlight. Look of we’ve all, yeah, what do you do? And you and they’re like, oh, yeah, exactly, yeah. Not now, all said and done. That’s the one thing is you hit on something, though, is that? That business justification? You know, what’s the ROI? You know, return on investment, if you will, of me going to a conference. Here’s something for our listeners. If you take a training, you go to a conference, whatever you really should do a recap of some of the key things so that when you get back one you can report back on. Here’s some of the key elements that we learned about. If they want, if people want to know more about that, they’ll ask you questions. Don’t inundate them with a dissertation. Hit them with a recap of what’s going on. Secondly, send some gratitude towards your management on who approved your travel and your approval for attending the conference, say thank you, and you know and explain that you know you feel like it’s enhanced you better with knowledge and skills and networking. That’s great, because again, in the end, so often people will will bring up issues and all that. How often do you get somebody comes to you and says, Thank you, I appreciate it or whatever, and I guarantee you your management’s the same way. So give that some thought. As we look at that, it

Lalo 28:55
doesn’t hurt to bring some swag for them either, right?

Andy 28:57
Oh yeah, yeah. Go through the Hey, listen. The other thing about conferences, go to every single booth, look to see what they’re doing. You may not need that vendor right then, that person right then, but you need to know what’s going on in the industry, whether it’s software, whether it’s hard product, whether it’s services, whatever, because, oh, you just listen to it, and then you hear about the turnover in the compliance arena, actually is pretty high, and a lot of people move within five years, Okay, you go to a different company now, all of a sudden, you know what? I remember a company that had x service or whatever I needed now, so that’s how

Benita Lee 29:47
I found most of my vendors. So I really look forward to seeing you guys at the icpa in March. Are

Andy 29:57
you going in March? I. You coming.

Benita Lee 30:01
Wonderful. I’m gonna be at your booth. And

Lalo 30:03
yeah, well, we’ll be there. Yeah, the recording, yes, we’ll be there. We’re gonna be recording there. Say hi and we’ll give you a little mini microphone or something. But, yeah, no, I’m kidding. But anyway, we’ll, we are going to be there. So you know, just come look for us and for anyone listening. We will be there. If you’re going to attend, come by say hi, even your if you’re an attendee. I mean, really, just come by and say hi and tell us how the experience is so far. Everybody loves to hear that and and that’s even part of the justification. Benita, I mean, people, just every day, people that are attending say, I’m learning so much. I mean, the next person that needs to justify can tell their boss, hey, check out what they just said. You know, they’re they’re actually learning, you know, they, they, they’re picking up some, some good skills here. So anyway, but I guess with that, I guess if you have any final words, so that we can wrap this up, I don’t know if, if you might have any final Yeah,

Andy 31:10
do you have any nuggets of knowledge here that you want to say? What would be one of the, you know, top one, two or three things you think somebody should be looking at here

Benita Lee 31:19
in terms of career development, I would say, you know, get your formal education. Go to those conferences, meet those people, make connections and stay in contact with them. And three, use your knowledge. Keep an open mind, and what you get from one industry might work in your own so you have everything at your fingertips.

Andy 31:49
Bonita, I appreciate that. We really appreciate you being on our show. For those for our listeners, listen, we’re going to have a link to bonitas information and her bio and whatnot. And again, if you are listening to to us now and you’re planning or considering going to icpa in March, please sign up, because it’s filling up quickly. It really is. It’s, I think they’re expecting a much bigger crowd than originally planned. So we’re looking at pre pandemic type volumes of people. It’s going to be great. And again, look forward to seeing everybody there and and all that. Lalo, I appreciate you, man. It’s like you do. You’re right on the money here with getting Bonita on board with us here,

Lalo 32:45
yeah, well, actually, Benita, I met her at a conference, so, you know, and it’s one of those things, like you said, you know, Benita networking, and look where we are now, less than a year ago, right? I know I met you less than a year ago, so, so that’s really nice. I mean, I you make connections and you end up doing you know the business, or, in this case, a show with us.

Benita Lee 33:09
Pleasure to be with you.

Andy 33:10
Well with that, thank you, folks, and be sure to flag us if you like our our show. Share it we thank you so much for your listenership, and with that, you all have a great day.