Officials are scrambling to roll out President Donald Trump’s ever-shifting tariffs on imports from around the world, adding a huge new workload for Customs and Border Protection staff that could hurt the agency’s ability to enforce laws already on the books.
“I can’t even imagine what a strain this is and how fast that they are churning through changes to how they’re doing things,” one former CBP official told NOTUS, requesting anonymity to discuss their past trade enforcement experience. “It’s enormously difficult for CBP to keep up with those updates, keep their field updated and aware of all of the changes and make sure everybody is focusing on doing enforcement.”
Trump’s tariffs not only translate into many new administrative tasks for CBP staff, former trade officials said — just look at all of these recent guidance notes — but they may also incentivize more companies to evade duties.