The Government Means Business: New DOJ-DHS Trade Fraud Playbook Raises the Stakes for Every Importer

If your compliance program consists of trusting your suppliers and hoping for the best, this summer's federal actions should change your calculus. The U.S. Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security have quietly raised the enforcement ceiling — and the floor has disappeared.

What Happened

On July 14, 2026, the DOJ and DHS jointly published the Resource Guide to Trade Fraud Enforcement — the first-ever comprehensive statement of the federal government's approach to customs and trade fraud. It wasn't a press release. It was a manual.

The Guide followed a stark milestone: the DOJ's Trade Fraud Task Force, a joint DOJ-DHS operation, announced it had surpassed $1 billion in combined civil and criminal recoveries in less than one year. The DOJ called this "a fundamental shift" — and they mean it.

The Guide is backed by Executive Order 14411, "Strengthening Customs Enforcement," signed by President Trump on June 3, 2026. EO 14411 directed CBP to maximize recovery through liquidated damages claims, in-bond restrictions, increased audits, and tougher broker penalties. Within 180 days, DHS must also revise importer-of-record eligibility requirements — a change that will directly affect how importers register, bond, and certify themselves with CBP.

The 16 Fraud Typologies They're Hunting

The Resource Guide explicitly names 16 enforcement priorities — essentially a roadmap of what the government's auditors and prosecutors are looking for:

• False country of origin declarations
• Incorrect HTS (tariff) classification
• Undervaluation of goods
• Antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) evasion
• Shell company fraud and customs broker fraud
• Drawback fraud
• Forged certifications and false commodity declarations
• Forced labor violations (with Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act presumptions)
• Port shopping and manifest fraud

The penalty exposure is real. Two aluminum companies paid $549.5 million for disguising extruded aluminum as finished pallets to evade AD/CVD. A major automaker paid $365 million for using sham rear seats to misclassify cargo vans as passenger vehicles. In Chicago, an importer of gold jewelry received a 10-month federal prison sentence for evading just $1.89 million in duties by falsely declaring Oman as country of origin.

What Changed — And Why It Matters More Now

In past enforcement cycles, companies could often avoid the worst outcomes by cooperating after an inquiry began, or by treating CBP penalties as a negotiable line item. The Resource Guide explicitly closes that door. It states that candor toward the government is now a legal requirement, not a best practice — and that CBP will no longer routinely offer the same mitigation relief that noncompliant actors have relied on as a "cost of doing business."

Critically, liability is no longer limited to the importer of record. The Guide makes clear that anyone in the supply chain who knowingly receives, conceals, buys, sells, or facilitates the movement of illegally imported goods can face prosecution. Freight forwarders, brokers, distributors, and even end buyers are on notice.

The forced labor angle is particularly sharp for Miami-area importers handling goods from Southeast Asia, China, or Latin America. CBP's enforcement sectors have expanded from four to 12 categories, now including aluminum, PVC, seafood, steel, copper, lithium, and more. Under the UFLPA, goods with any connection to Xinjiang carry a rebuttable presumption of forced labor — and rebutting it requires "clear and convincing evidence."

What Small and Mid-Size Importers Should Do Now

You don't need to be a Fortune 500 company to get caught in this net. Here's where to focus:

1. Review your HTS classifications. With Section 301, Section 232, and AD/CVD duties potentially stacking on a single entry, a classification error that once cost hundreds can now cost thousands — or trigger an audit. If you haven't reviewed classifications in the past 12 months, do it now.
2. Verify your country of origin documentation. Supplier declarations, bills of lading, and manufacturing records should be on file and current. "We trust our supplier" is not a defense.
3. Know your customs bond exposure. Higher stacked tariff rates mean your bond may be undercovered. EO 14411 directs CBP to tighten bond sufficiency requirements — review with your broker.
4. Map your supply chain for forced labor risk. Especially for goods with components sourced from China. UFLPA enforcement has teeth, and the high-priority sector list just grew to 12 categories.
5. Don't wait for an inquiry to act. The government has signaled it will scrutinize compliance failures on a spectrum from negligence to criminal intent. Proactive disclosure now carries far more value than reactive cooperation later.