The Trade Fraud Task Force, established last year, is gaining even more teeth.  The Trade Fraud Task Force (Task Force) is a cross-agency effort established in August 2025 between the DOJ and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (Customs or CBP) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). A link to the joint press release is found at:  https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/departments-justice-and-homeland-security-partnering-cross-agency-trade-fraud-task-force [hereinafter Trade Fraud Task Force Creation]. The Task Force was created to target importers with willful or knowing violations, and paying particular attention to misclassification, incorrect country-of-origin declarations, undervaluation and transshipment. While the Task Force primarily uses traditional CBP civil penalty authority granted by the Tariff Act of 1930, the Task Force also utilizes civil actions under the False Claims Act to push enforcement of more egregious violations of customs law. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/departments-justice-and-homeland-security-partnering-cross-agency-trade-fraud-task-force.

Initially the Task Force was composed of experts from the DOJ Civil and Criminal Divisions alongside members of CBP and HSI. However, at the International Trade Investigations, Enforcement & Litigation conference in February 2026, the DOJ Criminal Division Senior Counsel Cody Herche announced the Task Forces intention to strengthen and broaden its member partners and tools. First, the Task Force will now include close partnerships with the FDA, EPA, and CPSC. This broad cross-agency collaboration thus extends trade compliance accountability into existing regulatory programs that focus on targeting fraud. Recently, Boise Cascade was ordered to pay over $6 million in fines for trafficking timber. https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdfl/pr/boise-cascade-pleads-guilty-and-sentenced-violating-lacey-act-its-role-timber. This action was initiated by the Task Force working with the DOJ’s Environment and Natural Resources Division ENRD.  With the EPA forming part of the Task Force, there are several different regulatory regimes overlapping to investigate possible trade fraud,  As well, the ENRD has already started collaborating with the State Department to investigate and prosecute foreign cases of trade fraud with a nexus to the United States.

As well, the Task Force will enhance its data-driven techniques used in identifying inconsistencies in documentation across agencies to detect potential false statements that are indicative of evasion. Finally, the Task Force will coordinate with Offices of Inspector Generals and the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force to enforce compliance among federal contractors and scrutinize goods potentially manufactured with forced labor. As part of this effort, the Task Force will investigate supply-chain audits to identify  indicators of potential duty evasion.

Now more than ever importers must maintain robust compliance programs that include routine internal audits and based on current import profiles to detect possible emerging risks. If a company detects an error, the Task Force encourages importers to complete a voluntary self-disclosure (prior disclosure) to self-report to Customs and/or even the DOJ (as applicable, based on the scenario), rather than wait for the error to be found by the Task Force.. Establishment of such internal controls will allow an importer to proactively determine inaccurate declarations or filing inconsistencies which could trigger the attention of the task force or Customs overall. Proactive compliance measures today may significantly reduce exposure to False Claims Act liability in the future.