Ask An Attorney - Executive Order on Trade Enforcement
On June 3, 2026, the White House issued an Executive Order titled “Strengthening Customs Enforcement,” directing U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to significantly tighten importer requirements and overhaul enforcement priorities. Rather than relying primarily on post entry audits and penalties, the Order instructs CBP to focus on front end screening of importers, evaluating whether an entity is qualified to import goods before entries are processed. This approach places greater emphasis on importer identity, financial accountability, and compliance history, effectively conditioning access to the entry process on meeting defined eligibility standards.
Although the Executive Order focuses on importer obligations, its practical impact extends directly to customs brokers. As CBP increases its reliance on front end screening and centralized risk evaluation, brokers may play a more active role in helping clients compile and present the information necessary to qualify as importers, including ownership disclosures, operational details, and evidence of financial capacity. This effectively creates a new line of business centered on importer onboarding and compliance support. At the same time, the nature of brokerage services is likely to shift. Traditional data entry and filing functions may become less central, while compliance review, client vetting, and risk assessment take on greater importance. These added responsibilities, combined with the need to manage higher compliance risk across client portfolios, will likely result in increased service costs and higher brokerage rates over time.
The Executive Order also places new emphasis on financial accountability through increased bonding requirements. It directs CBP to require importers to maintain a minimum level of tangible U.S. assets, bonding, or both, and to increase minimum bond coverage amounts. In addition, the Order states that a foreign importer of record may not rely on a continuous bond to meet entry requirements, effectively requiring the use of transaction specific bonding mechanisms. This requirement, combined with the broader emphasis on bonds or U.S. assets for all entries, narrows the operational flexibility historically available to foreign IORs and increases the financial scrutiny applied to each transaction. In practice, this shift reinforces bonding as a primary enforcement tool and aligns liability more closely with the importer’s demonstrated capacity to satisfy duties, penalties, and related obligations.
The Executive Order also directs CBP to rely more heavily on programs such as the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (CTPAT) as part of its screening framework, particularly with respect to foreign importer structures. By effectively conditioning participation in U.S. importation on meeting CTPAT type standards, or working through a CTPAT certified intermediary, the Order uses the program as a gatekeeping tool for determining which parties can access the entry process. Because importer participation in CTPAT is limited to entities with a U.S. or Canadian presence and established compliance infrastructure, this approach reinforces the exclusion of many foreign IOR structures. For customs brokers, this creates both an incentive and a practical necessity to obtain and maintain CTPAT certification, as CBP increasingly distinguishes between “trusted” and “non trusted” actors at the front end. In addition, even where not expressly stated in the Order, current enforcement patterns suggest that brokers themselves may be evaluated within this risk framework, with higher risk actors facing increased screening, delays, or operational constraints. This dynamic is likely to affect brokers’ ability to move cargo efficiently and, over time, their ability to compete for and retain client business.
Conclusion
Taken together, these changes direct a fundamental shift in how CBP administers import enforcement. Importing into the United States is no longer treated as a transaction by transaction process, but as a status that must be established and maintained. Entry processing is increasingly conditioned on who the importer is, how that importer is structured, and whether CBP can treat that party as transparent, compliant, and financially accountable. For brokers and sureties, this shift will require closer attention to importer qualification, greater involvement in compliance processes, and an operational environment defined less by filing mechanics and more by risk management and accountability.
Courtesy of Meeks, Sheppard, Leo & Pillsbury LLP