Trade-Fraud Task Force Reports Over $1 Billion in Recoveries and Alleged Losses

The Trump administration reported that its trade-fraud task force has recovered or alleged losses exceeding $1 billion, less than one year after the group began operations. Cnn reported that the figure covers criminal and civil actions, including penalties, settlements, restitution, asset forfeitures and amounts alleged in pending cases.

Only $150 million of the total stems from cases still in progress.

The task force, led by the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security, started work at the same time as President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs took effect. Those tariffs carried rates as high as 50 percent on goods from certain countries. The Supreme Court later ruled that the president lacked sufficient authority to impose the tariffs.

A Goldman Sachs analysis estimated that tariff evasion could affect more than $200 billion in U.S. imports and reduce tariff revenue by roughly $40 billion over the long term. The economists cited misreporting of goods’ value, falsified countries of origin and routing shipments through third countries as common methods.

The case that brought the task force past the $1 billion mark involved an American jewelry importer charged in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Prosecutors alleged the importer falsely declared the country of origin and rerouted gold pieces through a lower-tariff country.

The shipments, valued at more than $240 million, were linked to $13.6 million in unpaid tariffs.

“The Department’s focus remains constant: if you misclassify goods or falsify origins to evade any lawful duty, regardless of when those duties were enacted or evolve over time, we will investigate and prosecute you,” Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald, who heads the task force, said in a statement to Cnn.