The free but limited-capacity forum will bring importers, customs brokers, carriers and Foreign-Trade Zone representatives together.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s San Juan Field Office has opened registration for the 2026 San Juan Trade Day, an annual forum that brings Puerto Rico’s foreign trade community face to face with federal officials to discuss the island’s import and export landscape.
The event will be held Sept. 15, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., at the Aloft by Marriott, 250 Convention Blvd., in San Juan. Attendance is free, but CBP said space is limited and individual registration is required for all attendees. Registration is open through a SurveyMonkey form linked in the agency’s official notice.
According to CBP, the forum will give trade professionals direct access to officials from the Office of Field Operations and the Office of Trade, both locally and from CBP headquarters, as well as representatives of partner government agencies who will be available to answer questions. The agency described the event as “a premier forum for CBP to engage directly with our trade community,” aimed at helping stakeholders “stay informed, build connections, and navigate the evolving trade landscape.”
The event is open to importers, customs brokers, carriers, freight forwarders, and representatives of Foreign-Trade Zones and bonded warehouses — in short, most of the chain that moves merchandise in and out of Puerto Rico. Customs brokers who attend may also earn continuing education hours toward their license.
Why it matters
Puerto Rico depends almost entirely on imported merchandise — from food to inputs for its pharmaceutical industry, which alone accounts for roughly three-quarters of the island’s exports. Forums like this one have historically served as a direct channel between the private sector and CBP on issues such as the transition to the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE), the system through which the trade community reports imports and exports, as well as the expansion of Foreign-Trade Zones and compliance with antidumping and countervailing-duty law — all of which directly affect how long, and how much, it costs to move a container through the Port of San Juan. CBP’s notice did not specify this year’s agenda beyond the officials expected to attend.
