Trump signs executive order to overhaul U.S. customs enforcement, sets 90- and 180-day rulemaking deadlines

President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order directing a broad overhaul of U.S. customs enforcement, setting 90- and 180-day deadlines for the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection to tighten importer rules, restrict foreign importers of record from using informal entries, raise penalty floors and speed the seizure and disposal of noncompliant imports.

The order, titled “Strengthening Customs Enforcement,” was published June 3 on the White House website. It frames customs enforcement as a core national interest, saying, “Customs enforcement is essential to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.”

The move is a substantive trade-enforcement step with direct operational consequences for importers and cross-border e-commerce. But the changes are not immediate. A White House fact sheet says the reforms “will not take effect immediately,” and the order says implementation must comply with applicable law, including the Administrative Procedure Act, meaning DHS and CBP must go through rulemaking. The order is also subject to the availability of appropriations.

At the center of the overhaul is the importer of record, the party legally responsible for making entry, filing customs paperwork and ensuring an imported shipment complies with U.S. law. The White House said, “The Order directs the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to strengthen several requirements for importers of record (IORs).”

Within 180 days, DHS and CBP are ordered to revise importer-of-record eligibility rules. The agencies must require IORs to maintain a minimum level of tangible domestic assets and/or bonding, increase minimum bond coverage, and require an IOR to be designated and reported to CBP for both formal and informal entries. They also must require more information from IORs, including anticipated import volumes, the year the business was organized, ownership and beneficial ownership, affiliations, and domestic assets.

The order also gives DHS and CBP 180 days to prohibit a foreign importer of record from filing informal entries, a channel commonly used for lower-value shipments. The agencies must add formal-entry requirements for foreign IORs, including limits on continuous bonds and, where applicable, validation under the Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, or use of a CTPAT-validated licensed customs broker.

In the same 180-day window, DHS and CBP must define and require all importers of record to maintain “good standing” with CBP, update the IOR registry by removing inactive IORs and confirming compliance for active ones, and create risk-based tiers. They also must establish enhanced and recurring vetting for IORs, customs brokers, freight forwarders and custodians involved in import activity.

A separate set of deadlines lands within 90 days. DHS and CBP must establish heightened disclosure and certification requirements for imports, including certifications of compliance with laws such as the Russia sanctions law known as CAATSA and the federal anti-smuggling statute at 18 U.S.C. 545, as determined by CBP. Importers also would have to submit documentation that a foreign exporter filed with its own customs authority before export.

The agencies are also directed within 90 days to revise mitigation standards for customs penalties. That includes setting a minimum penalty floor of at least 50% of the assessed penalty absent exceptional circumstances, establishing a minimum floor for liquidated damages, and eliminating mitigation for repeat offenders.

The same 90-day period applies to enforcement mechanics. DHS and CBP must take steps to speed seizure and disposal of noncompliant imports, including procedures for voluntary abandonment, higher bond requirements for high-risk shipments, third-party disposal and use of existing legal authorities. They also must review confidentiality requests and let them expire where appropriate, and publish annual enforcement transparency reports, consistent with legal and national security limits.

The order directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to prioritize enforcement actions involving forced labor, misclassification, undervaluation and illegal transshipment, including investigations under the Enforce and Protect Act, a law used in customs evasion cases. It says, “Customs reform is long overdue. Systemic inefficiencies, loopholes, insufficient enforcement mechanisms, and outdated processes have created opportunities for malign actors to evade Federal law.”

In practical terms, if the rules are implemented as written, they would raise compliance requirements for importers, especially foreign sellers and cross-border e-commerce shipments that relied on informal entry. The changes would also likely increase reliance on licensed customs brokers to handle formal customs processes.

The order follows earlier administration steps to tighten treatment of low-value imports and de minimis shipments, which the White House has cast as part of a broader trade-enforcement push.

The next deadlines come quickly. Within 45 days, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, in consultation with the Office of Management and Budget and other agencies, must send legislative recommendations to the president through the senior counselor for trade and manufacturing. Within one year, the secretary must submit a report on how effective the ordered measures have been. Until DHS and CBP complete rulemaking, however, the overhaul remains a policy directive rather than a change already in force.