U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced on July 29 that it has identified more than $1 billion in unpaid import duties owed under a federal statute targeting companies that evade trade remedies designed to protect American industries from unfair foreign competition.
The figure is the largest amount ever assessed under the Enforce and Protect Act in the decade since the law was enacted, according to the agency. It is also roughly 300 percent above the program’s annual average, signaling a significant escalation in enforcement activity or the discovery of evasion schemes operating at an unusual scale.
The amounts are owed under antidumping and countervailing measures, two categories of trade remedy used to offset the effects of unfair trade practices. Antidumping measures apply when foreign manufacturers sell goods in the American market at prices below what they charge in their home country, effectively subsidizing their export business at the expense of domestic competitors. Countervailing measures address government subsidies provided to foreign producers that allow them to undercut American manufacturers on price.
What the law allows
The Enforce and Protect Act, passed a decade ago, gives CBP specific authority to investigate and stop duty evasion schemes once they have been identified. The mechanisms companies use to evade these measures are varied and often sophisticated, including undervaluing goods so they are assessed at a lower rate, misclassifying products so they fall under a less-restrictive category, and routing shipments through third countries so that the origin of the goods appears to be from a nation not subject to the relevant tariffs, a practice known as transshipment.
When evasion is discovered and confirmed, CBP can issue notices requiring importers to pay the tariffs that should have been collected. The $1 billion figure represents the cumulative total of those assessments.
The products involved
In 2026, CBP issued 14 separate notices covering a wide range of imported goods. The list spans lumber, pipes, metal lockers, solar cells, a food additive called xanthan gum, wooden furniture and tow-behind lawn groomers, with imports arriving from multiple countries. The breadth of the product categories reflects the program’s mandate to pursue evasion wherever it occurs rather than focusing on any single industry or trading partner.
Several of the categories, including solar cells, lumber and wooden furniture, have been among the more contentious areas of U.S. trade policy in recent years. Solar cells from certain Asian countries have faced substantial antidumping and countervailing duties for years, creating financial incentives for importers to route goods through intermediary countries to avoid the fees. Lumber has been a recurring area of trade dispute between the United States and Canada, with duties levied on Canadian softwood lumber a persistent point of tension in the trading relationship.
Why the record matters
A $1 billion enforcement figure in a single assessment period is significant both as a number and as a signal. It indicates either that CBP has expanded its investigative capacity and is identifying more evasion than in previous years, that the scale of individual schemes has grown larger, or some combination of both.
Duty evasion harms domestic manufacturers in two direct ways. It deprives them of the competitive protection that trade remedies are designed to provide, allowing foreign competitors to continue underselling them and reducing revenue from trade remedies assessed through legitimate dispute processes.
The record assessment also comes at a moment of heightened attention to trade enforcement. The current administration has made trade compliance and the collection of duties a priority, and enforcement activity across multiple agencies has intensified. CBP’s program operates at the intersection of trade law enforcement and revenue collection, and a record year reflects both.
What enforcement looks like
Once CBP initiates an investigation, it can impose interim measures requiring importers to deposit funds while the investigation proceeds. If evasion is confirmed, those deposits are applied to the duties owed, and additional amounts are billed. Companies that continue to evade after being put on notice face additional legal consequences.
The 14 notices issued in 2026 will each proceed through that process, and the total collected may ultimately differ from the amount assessed as cases are resolved.
