U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has identified more than $1 billion in unpaid import duties owed to the government.
The duties are owed under the Enforce and Protect Act (EAPA), which targets U.S. importers evading antidumping and countervailing duties.
This is the first time in EAPA’s 10-year history that CBP has assessed more than $1 billion in duty evasion, the agency said in a July 29 statement. This is not only a record figure but also 300 percent above the program’s annual average.
These duties are intended to offset the value of dumping and subsidization of foreign goods, thereby providing a level playing field for domestic industries that are negatively affected by unfair trade practices.
EAPA authorizes the CBP to probe and put an end to duty evasion schemes such as undervaluation or misclassification of products and illegal transshipments of goods.
In 2026, CBP issued 14 notices under EAPA involving a wide range of products, including lumber, pipes, metal lockers, solar cells, xanthan gum, wooden furniture, and tow-behind lawn groomers, imported from various nations.
Investigators from the United States inspected production facilities in Thailand, India, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Mexico, aiming to verify that American businesses are importing from legitimate sources.
“CBP’s EAPA program supports the America First Trade Policy, which focuses on protecting American businesses and workers,” CBP Commissioner Rodney S. Scott said in the statement.
“By enforcing antidumping and countervailing duty laws, we are creating a level playing field for domestic industries.”
The EAPA was implemented in 2016. The law sets up procedures for interested parties to submit allegations that an importer is evading the payment of antidumping and countervailing duties.
Between fiscal years 2016 and 2026, a total of 462 such cases have been filed, according to CBP data. The vast majority of cases, 314, were filed against China. South Korea was second with 48 cases, followed by Vietnam with 30, Germany with 23, Indonesia with 20, and India with 15 cases.
A whopping 398 cases were filed for transshipment, referring to shipping goods through a third country to obscure the product’s nation of origin. This is typically done to circumvent import tariffs.
Malaysia was the number one country facing transshipment cases, followed by Thailand, South Korea, Vietnam, and Mexico.
In its latest statement, the CBP said that EAPA investigations are among the agency’s enforcement tools to combat duty evasion. During the probes, CBP works closely with those who allege duty evasion, including small businesses, to help them submit well-supported complaints.
Antidumping Cases
On Wednesday, nine American producers of certain linear hydraulic cylinders and parts filed antidumping and countervailing cases, according to a July 29 statement from the U.S. Transformer Fair Trade Coalition.
The petitions, filed with the Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission, allege that dumped and subsidized imports of hydraulic cylinders from China, Canada, India, Mexico, and Korea are harming the domestic industry.
The petitions asked the government to investigate dumping, subsidies, and the injury to U.S. industry arising from such unfair trade practices. They also sought the imposition of antidumping and countervailing duties on the imports of items covered under the petitions.
“The goal of these cases is to restore fair trading conditions for U.S. producers of hydraulic cylinders and to address the injurious effects of dumped and subsidized imports,” Alan Luberda of Kelley Drye & Warren LLP, counsel for the petitioners, said in the statement.
“Domestic producers of hydraulic cylinders can no longer watch their market be increasingly eroded by unfair trade from foreign producers.”
In another case, the Department of Commerce announced on April 23 that it was initiating antidumping duty probes of oil country tubular goods (OCTG) from the United Arab Emirates, Taiwan, and Austria.
OCTG refers to piping products used in the oil and gas industry. In addition, authorities launched a countervailing duty probe into the affected items from Austria.
The investigation followed petitions submitted by several domestic groups, including the U.S. Steel Corporation and the U.S. OCTG Manufacturers Association.
