The expiration of trade incentives for Ecuador this summer could wilt a new flower distribution center at O'Hare International Airport just as it's about to get off the ground.
The joint venture developing the nearly $2 million refrigerated processing center expects to have it ready by July, and a rose exporter from Ecuador has been lined up to start bringing two flights a week into Chicago.
But on July 31, the cost of importing cut roses from Ecuador will jump 7 percent when duty-free treatment under the Andean Trade Preference Act expires, reinstating the U.S. tariff in that amount.
Ecuador has expressed great interest in the O'Hare center, and “their support on the project is very crucial,” said Shlomo Danieli, a flower grower in Wilmette and one of three partners in the O'Hare flower distribution center. “If we have to pay a tax, it will put a burden on the project, but it won't kill it.”
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