On February 23, 2026, Cody Matthew Herche, the head of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Trade Fraud Task Force created six months ago, announced that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois will...more
The “first sale” doctrine allows a U.S. importer using multi-tier transactions to use the price of the first sale for export to the United States as a basis for calculating customs duties, as long as the importer can...more
In remarks last week at the American Conference Institute’s Advanced Forum on False Claims and Qui Tam Enforcement, the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) top civil fraud enforcement official, Deputy Assistant Attorney General...more
On January 16, 2026, the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued its annual year-end report on civil False Claims Act (FCA) accomplishments and highlights from Fiscal Year (FY) 2025. This follows DOJ’s announcement only a week...more
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) closed out 2025 with a clear message to importers: the Trade Task Force is working hard and trade fraud enforcement will be accelerating into 2026. On one day, December 18, DOJ announced...more
At the American Conference Institute’s 42nd Annual Conference on FCPA and Global Anti-Corruption held on December 4, 2025 in Washington, senior officials from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) reaffirmed that combatting...more
On August 29, 2025, the U.S. Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Homeland Security (DHS) announced the creation of a new cross-agency Trade Fraud Task Force “to bring robust enforcement against importers and other parties who...more
9/8/2025
/ Criminal Prosecution ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Fraud ,
Imports ,
International Trade ,
Tariffs ,
Whistleblowers
Given the Trump Administration’s unprecedented reliance on tariffs as a foreign policy tool and a means to protect and foster U.S. industry, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is rapidly shifting resources and enforcement...more
In March 2024, NSD issued an updated Enforcement Policy for Business Organizations (NSD Enforcement Policy) that includes the M&A Policy. Under the M&A Policy, where an acquiring company makes a qualifying voluntary...more
19 U.S.C. § 1321(a)(2) authorizes administrative exemptions from duty, tax, and formal entry procedures for shipments of certain imported articles, including articles valued at $800 or less. The importing community often...more
2/6/2025
/ China ,
Customs ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) ,
Imports ,
International Trade ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Section 301 ,
Tariffs ,
U.S. Treasury
On February 1, 2025, President Trump signed three executive orders imposing additional tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China, pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) in response to emergencies...more
Key Points - Last Tuesday, USTR announced the results of its Section 301 “necessity review.” Today, USTR followed up with a Federal Register notice providing details on the further proposed modifications to the Section 301...more
On December 1, 2023, the Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued proposed regulations (REG-118492-23) with additional guidance on the excluded entities provision in the section 30D clean...more
12/7/2023
/ Clean Energy ,
Compliance ,
Department of Energy (DOE) ,
Electric Vehicles ,
Foreign Entities ,
IRS ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Tax Credits ,
Tax Planning ,
U.S. Treasury
Key Points -
On February 24, the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, President Joe Biden announced, via Presidential Proclamation 10522, an additional 200% ad valorem tariff on Russian origin aluminum...more
On November 1, USTR released a comment form prescribing the submission format for public comments in the “necessity review” process for the Section 301 China tariffs. USTR first announced the public comment phase of the...more
Key Points -
On January 1, 2022, Mexico eliminated its General Customs Administration (AGA, by its initials in Spanish), which had operated under the authority of Mexico’s central Tax Administration Service. In its place,...more
Key Points -
On June 21, 2022, CBP began enforcing the UFLPA’s revisions to section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930—19 U.SC. § 1307—by applying a rebuttable presumption that the following goods are prohibited from...more
Key Points -
The United States and its allies are banning imports or increasing tariffs on Russia’s top products—crude oil, petroleum, petroleum fuels, oils, liquefied natural gas, coal, fish, seafood, alcohol,...more
Key Points -
On December 23, 2021, President Biden signed the UFLPA into law after it unanimously passed both chambers of Congress. The UFLPA aims to strengthen the forced labor statute by prohibiting the importation and...more
Key Points -
The Department of Commerce initiated a Section 232 national security investigation into NdFeB permanent magnets, which are used in fighter aircraft, missile guidance systems, electric vehicles, wind...more
Yesterday, in the unprecedented “In re Section 301 Cases” litigation, the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) entered a preliminary injunction that suspends the liquidation of plaintiffs’ unliquidated entries from China...more
Key Points -
CBP recently ruled that the Jones Act applies to the transportation of merchandise from a U.S. port to locations on the OCS used for developing and producing wind energy, following Congressional amendments to...more
Key Points
- On December 14, 2020, Commerce promulgated a fourth interim final rule to revise certain aspects of the Section 232 steel and aluminum exclusions process.
- One notable change is the creation of GAEs,...more
CBP has issued a “region-wide” WRO on cotton and tomato products “grown or produced” by entities “operating in” the XUAR. In a press release, CBP states that the order covers “apparel, textiles, tomato seeds, canned tomatoes,...more
- In Presidential Proclamation 10060, announced on August 6, 2020, President Trump reinstated a 10 percent ad valorem tariff on imports of non-alloyed unwrought aluminum from Canada under the Section 232 of the Trade...more
8/17/2020
/ Aluminum Sales ,
Canada ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Imports ,
Presidential Proclamations ,
Section 232 ,
Steel Industry ,
Supply Chain ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Expansion Act of 1962 ,
Trade Relations ,
Trump Administration ,
U.S. Commerce Department ,
US Trade Policies