President Trump Issues Executive Order to Enhance Customs Enforcement

On June 3, 2026, President Donald Trump issued an executive order (EO) directing the Secretary of Homeland Security to take numerous steps over the next six months to advance the President’s America First Trade Policy by “strengthen[ing] customs enforcement through comprehensive reform.”

The EO requires that specific deliverables be provided to the Senior Counselor for Trade and Manufacturing, Peter Navarro, who is widely recognized as one of the administration’s staunchest trade hawks and a leading architect of the America First Trade Policy. These deliverables include a recommendation for legislation to strengthen customs enforcement (due in 45 days) and a report on the effectiveness of the changes required by the EO (due in one year).

Many of the changes set out in the EO will not require new legislation, meaning they can be implemented relatively quickly by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) via changes to customs regulations (Title 19 of the Code of Federal Regulations) or to guidance documents made available on cbp.gov, both of which are expected over the next 90 to 180 days.

The changes will increase both the direct and indirect costs for all importers and heighten enforcement risks by reducing many of the existing pathways for mitigation. A key priority of the EO is to increase the eligibility requirements for nonresident importers of record (now renamed and redefined in the EO as “foreign IORs”).

Ostensibly, these changes aim to target foreign IORs that use “shell companies, sham transactions, or artificial corporate or organizational structuring” to import goods into the United States and/or evade compliance obligations including the payment of duty. The impact, however, will likely be broader because the EO creates a narrow definition for the term “U.S. importer of record” (U.S. IOR) and a broad residual definition for foreign IORs that may significantly increase the burdens and costs for all nonresident importers, including those that have legitimately imported articles into the United States for years.

Among the key provisions of the EO:

• increased minimum bond requirements for all importers filing formal or informal customs entries
• prohibition on foreign IORs filing informal customs entries and significant restrictions on the use of continuous entry bonds by foreign IORs
• new requirements that U.S. IORs own “a significant amount of real property” in the United States
• creation of a new requirement that importers remain in “good standing” with CBP and a minimum standard that any importer found to have illegally imported substances or contraband, including fentanyl or precursor chemicals, is not in good standing
• enhanced and recurring vetting procedures for importers and “affiliates” of importers including brokers and freight forwarders
• heightened data disclosure requirements, including certification of compliance with the anti–North Korean forced labor law known as CAATSA (Pub. L. 115-44), and detailed data disclosures regarding the “supply chain and production methods” associated with imported goods
• a range of additional heightened enforcement measures and penalties, including a minimum “penalty floor” restricting the availability of mitigation for penalties or liquidated damages assessments

The forthcoming changes will increase for all importers the costs and risks associated with importing merchandise into the United States. The costs of customs bonds will increase. Importers will be required to disclose more data to CBP and will face higher penalties for noncompliance, with less potential for mitigation. The extent of these changes will be driven by the new regulations and other administrative changes that result from this EO as well as any legislation that may be enacted.

What is clear thus far is that current nonresident IORs will be significantly affected. This includes, for example, Canada-based companies that sell to U.S. customers on delivered, duty-paid terms of sale as well as nonresident IORs that import significant volumes of low-value commercial shipments ($2,500 or less) using CBP’s informal entry process. Additionally, foreign companies that import using a U.S. legal entity that does not own real estate in the United States may also be impacted by these new restrictions.

As CBP proposes revisions to the customs regulations pursuant to the EO, there should be opportunities for public comment. Similarly, if customs reform legislation is needed, there will be opportunities for legislative engagement. In any case, the changes identified in the EO are a clear sign that the President’s America First Trade Policy aims to be comprehensive in scope, extending not only to the various new tariff regimes but also changing many of the established procedures for conducting import business in ways that will make it more difficult to import merchandise into the United States.