Global Trade Strategy

The Bay-Lake Regional Planning Commission and East Central Regional Planning Commission submitted a joint application to the Economic Development Administration (EDA) in April 2010 to secure funding to prepare a Global Trade Strategy for Northeast Wisconsin. The money was made available through EDA's Community Trade Adjustment Assistance program to address significant local job losses due to global trade. The application was successful and $200,000 ($166,500 grant and $33,500 local match) was approved for the project.

Newmark Knight Frank Consulting Firm (NKF) was hired in April 2011 to collect and analyze data on global trade conditions in Northeast Wisconsin. In addition, NKF will conduct a series of interviews with smaller to medium size businesses already participating in global trade or are thinking of shipping their goods and/or providing their services overseas. In the meantime, the two regional planning commissions will be interviewing officials from the area's two regional airports, the Green Bay Port, and other key components that are vital to facilitate an expansion in global trade for the region's businesses.

Once all the data has been gathered and tabulated, the Stakeholder Committee will review the information and identify five industry clusters that have the propensity and capacity to increase their global trade levels. The two regional planning commissions with assistance from the Stakeholder Committee will prepare a comprehensive set of goals and objectives to increase trade opportunities for the businesses within these clusters. It is important that the goals and objectives focus on issues that can be addressed and remediated locally by the stakeholders and respective businesses.

The Global Trade Strategy will be completed by March 2012. As the project moves forward, all the materials, data, and related information will be made available on Google Documents.

For more information on the Global Trade Strategy being completed for Northeast Wisconsin, please contact Richard Heath at 920-448-2820.