For under-reporting and concealing the falsified country of origin, freight forwarders and customs brokers may be held criminally liable and may be imprisoned for up to 20 years.

Sunny Worldwide LogisticsIt is a logistics company with more than 20 years of transportation experience, focusing on markets such as Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia, and Southeast Asia. It is more of a cargo owner than a cargo owner~

The U.S. trade enforcement system is undergoing a major shift, and the traditional regulatory model that has long relied on administrative fines and tax repayments is being gradually replaced. With the formal establishment of the Global Trade and Commerce Enforcement Division (GTCES) of the U.S. Department of Justice, enforcement methods against low declared values, misclassification, evasion of anti-dumping and countervailing duties, forgery of origin, and false certification have expanded from administrative review at the customs level to criminal investigation.

It is worth noting that the scope of the "penetrating law enforcement" model implemented by the United States is no longer limited to the importer itself, but extends to all chain participants such as overseas manufacturers, freight forwarders, customs brokers, and warehousing and logistics companies. For freight forwarding companies that have been engaged in business with the United States for a long time, the urgency of customer qualification review, document authenticity verification and compliance declaration management is increasing significantly. U.S. trade enforcement rules have undergone substantial changes, and any company that takes chances or assists in illegal operations may face far higher legal consequences than before.

Previously, U.S. Customs mostly dealt with trade violations through administrative investigations, back payment of taxes and fines, which some companies regarded as quantifiable compliance costs. However, this regulatory logic is undergoing a fundamental shift. On July 14, the U.S. Department of Justice officially announced the establishment of the Global Trade and Commerce Enforcement Division under the National Fraud Enforcement Division, which will be responsible for investigating and prosecuting criminal cases involving import, trade, and customs fraud. This marks that U.S. trade enforcement has accelerated from the administrative-led stage to the criminal accountability cycle.

GTCES is not a temporary agency, but an upgrade based on the Trade Fraud Task Force jointly established by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security in August 2025. According to US disclosures, in less than a year of operation, the task force has recovered, confiscated and involved more than US billion in total, which has become an important basis for promoting its upgrade to a permanent law enforcement agency.

Colin McDonald, Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Justice, said in a related statement that in the past, some companies regarded violations of customs regulations as a "cost of doing business," and the intervention of criminal law enforcement will clearly send a signal: trade fraud is a serious economic crime, not just an administrative violation.

According to information released by the United States, the core responsibilities of GTCES include investigating the use of false declarations to evade tariffs, illegal import of controlled goods, violations of product safety regulations and evasion of forced labor bans, and has the authority to pursue relevant responsibilities through federal criminal procedures. Some serious cases may involve charges of smuggling, trade fraud and conspiracy under Title 18 of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations. The subjects involved may face up to 20 years in prison.

At the same time, the "Trade Fraud Enforcement Resource Guide" jointly released by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security further clarifies the types of violations that focus on:

Duty and tax fraud:These include intentionally under-declaring goods value, incorrectly declaring tariff numbers, evading anti-dumping and countervailing duties, forging the country of origin, using third-country transshipment to launder the country of origin, falsely applying for free trade agreement preferences, and fraudulently obtaining export tax rebates.

Supply chain entity violations:It involves using shell importers to avoid responsibilities, customs declaration agents assisting in providing false declaration materials, and deliberately choosing ports with looser enforcement to carry out illegal customs clearance.

Product Safety and Regulatory Fraud:This includes forging consumer product safety and environmental certification documents, concealing product safety defects, circumventing food import supervision, and importing unlicensed or counterfeit drugs and medical devices.

Trade control violations:This includes falsifying supply chain information to circumvent forced labor bans, illegally importing timber and wildlife products, and deliberately concealing sensitive goods subject to export controls or sanctions.

What deserves special attention is that the U.S. Department of Justice has made it clear that enforcement targets will cover the entire supply chain, including overseas manufacturers, importers, freight forwarders, customs brokers, warehousing companies and downstream distributors. Any entity that knows or should know that there are illegal activities such as false declarations, low declared values, misclassification, etc., but still participates in transportation, booking, customs declaration, or provides other assistance may face the risk of criminal investigation.

For international logistics companies, compliance management requirements are significantly increasing. The past reliance on administrative penalties to solve problems has been difficult to adapt to the new law enforcement environment. As the United States continues to strengthen supervision of tariffs, origins, supply chain security, and product compliance, freight forwarders, customs brokers, and cross-border trading companies need to pay more attention to customer background checks, document authenticity reviews, commodity classification, certificates of origin, and supply chain compliance management to reduce the risk of being involved in criminal investigations.

With GTCES officially put into operation, U.S. trade law enforcement has entered a new stage of parallel supervision and criminal accountability. For companies engaged in trade with the United States, they will not only face customs inspections and tax payment notices in the future, but also the possibility of direct intervention by the judicial department in investigations and criminal prosecutions. Compliance operations are evolving from a management requirement to the basic bottom line for supply chain participants.