U.S. Customs Not Giving the "Green Light"

Customs! "How much this word holds for the Russian (and American) heart! How much has resonated within it!". In all meanings of this concept, first and foremost, an unfriendly one towards official laws. Let's be honest, customs has always and everywhere been, pardon the expression, a semi-civilized cesspool, where entrepreneurial instincts for easy gain by no means lose the competition to the ethical and legal foundations of civil service. Well, and if the latter aspirations suddenly do not yield to the former, then the former persistently suggest a change of heart, as brilliantly shown in the immortal Soviet film "White Sun of the Desert", where the customs officer Vereshchagin, according to the bandits (that is, the former), had already agreed to give the green light, but the latter disappointed them with his subsequent behavior.

How much "goods" (or "goodies" - dobro in Russian implies both) float past customs is a fundamental and pathetic question. The most daring and radical fighters for public welfare have paid attention to it both in the name of truly noble goals and for the sake of gaining political popularity. For example, about 10 years ago, a group of economists clustered around the expert committee of the "A Just Russia" faction in the State Duma published and propagandized a report on the losses of the federal budget from improper conduct of customs operations in Russia. According to their estimates, the size of these shortfalls from all operations with "goods" amounted to so many trillions of rubles that it would have been more than enough to double the entire social part of the federal budget.

However, the epic "They are stealing!", attributed to both Nikolai Karamzin and Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, does not fit within the institutional framework of the unique Russian economic system but extends far beyond its limits, and, in particular, has long been established in a rich country across the Atlantic Ocean.

It turns out that in the US, in the sphere of imports and related customs operations, machinations with "goods" have been flourishing for so long that "Tariff Donald", who waves a huge tariff fist at all other countries right and left, decided to bring order to his own customs.

To this end, on August 29, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security created an interagency Trade Fraud Task Force to take robust action against importers and others who seek to cheat the United States. This Task Force will complement existing coordination mechanisms at the Department of Justice and leverage expertise from both the Civil and Criminal Divisions, as well as the Department of Homeland Security, to take decisive action against any persons attempting to evade duties and other tariffs, as well as smugglers attempting to import prohibited goods into the American economy. This institution is fully committed to holding accountable those who seek to undermine honest U.S. producers.

The initiators of this organizational innovation believe that unscrupulous importers and their accomplices have for years put law-abiding companies in the United States at a competitive disadvantage and deprived American society of funds by brazenly committing trade fraud. Trade fraud and trade crimes are widespread and systemic, resulting in harm to U.S. companies through lost sales, delayed investments, and job cuts. There is a critical need for effective enforcement to stop existing fraudulent schemes and hold violators accountable.

Here are specific examples of the suffering of American business representatives from disorders with "goods", foreign import supplies that passed through U.S. customs in violation of the rules.

The fifth-generation family company Charlotte Pipe and Foundry with 1,800 employees, a leading U.S. manufacturer of plumbing pipe and fittings, has suffered for years from illegal transshipment of Chinese goods dumping on the U.S. market. The company has already used all available legal remedies to ensure compliance with U.S. trade law, but the fraud has not abated.

Plews & Edelmann — a 115-year-old Illinois-based automotive aftermarket company — has been seeking accountability since 2021 in a case involving transshipment by a Chinese competitor to evade U.S. duties. Despite active support for the company by the House Committee of Congress, despite a raid by the Department of Homeland Security in 2024 and an ongoing investigation by the Department of Justice, foreign competitors continue to operate unimpeded in Ohio.

M&B Metal Products, a fourth-generation family-owned Alabama company specializing in steel products, has been fighting illegal trade for fifteen years, filing numerous electronic allegations of violations of the Enforcement and Protection Act. According to the CEO, although the company managed to prove duty evasion in all the cases we filed, the illegal activities of foreign companies continued, just under different names, and the consequences for them were minimal, if any.

The president of the textile company SHIP8 Inc believes that trade fraud, ineffective policy decisions, and ineffective enforcement have devastated U.S. industry and led to the loss of millions of jobs in the sector. And today, in his opinion, the same forces are destroying American retail and e-commerce — thousands of stores have closed, and many American online sellers are being displaced by Chinese competitors using intellectual property theft, underpricing, and fake reviews on platforms like Amazon, which now hosts over 1,000,000 Chinese cross-border sellers after a decade of minor abuses. Nearly 20% of new U.S. warehouse leases in 2024 were signed by Chinese companies, giving them direct access to the American supply chain in logistics and putting national companies at a disadvantage. Such trade practices are already regarded not just as unfair competition, but as a threat to national security.

The new interagency group will operate in accordance with existing U.S. Presidential Executive Order 14243, aimed at enhancing the government's ability to detect overpayments and fraud. The Trade Fraud Task Force will work closely with U.S. Department of Homeland Security law enforcement components, specifically U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Homeland Security Investigations, to identify and disrupt trade fraud that threatens economic and national security interests.

This next step in shaking up the Washington "swamp" and bringing order to the foreign economic sphere logically follows from the "America First Trade Policy" unveiled by Trump on inauguration day, which "spurs investment and productivity, enhances our industrial and technological advantages, protects our economic and national security, and, above all, benefits American workers, manufacturers, farmers, ranchers, entrepreneurs, and companies."

A key part of this policy is ensuring enforcement of trade laws, including the payment of all applicable tariffs and duties, such as antidumping and countervailing duties, as well as tariffs designed to level the playing field for American producers. The new interagency group will advance the America First trade policy by pursuing those who violate customs laws through duty recovery and penalty actions under the Tariff Act of 1930, actions under the False Claims Act, and, where appropriate, parallel criminal prosecutions, penalties, and forfeitures under the trade fraud and conspiracy provisions of Title 18.

American industrial trade associations, who have long awaited and enthusiastically welcomed such a decision, hope that the commission will operate in the style of the Soviet Cheka-NKVD. Given facts and law — timely criminal charges for organized or repeated tax evasion; otherwise — decisive civil/administrative actions, as well as immediate seizures/forfeitures to disrupt networks.

The expanded use of whistleblowers ("informants") is envisaged, who are encouraged to send signals to the Criminal Division’s Corporate Whistleblower Program at the Department of Justice.

Advocates of this policy also expect that periodic public updates on law enforcement activity (e.g., cases filed, charges brought, penalties, seizures, recoveries) will play a useful role in demonstrating momentum and deterrence.

So, the showdown at U.S. customs quite naturally fits into the new philosophy of U.S. foreign trade. Gone are the days when, for the love of the "art" of the globalization agenda, America idly watched as foreign suppliers processed the country's import-receiving infrastructure, drilled holes in the fence of customs legislation, apparently sharing the "goods" with customs. But now, U.S. customs will not be so quick to give the "green light" to foreigners. Or will it? Time will tell!