Fighting Trade Cheats Act of 2025

This bill, the Fighting Trade Cheats Act of 2025, aims to crack down on customs fraud. It raises civil penalties, blocks cheaters (and their affiliates) from importing for years, and lets harmed U.S. businesses, workers, and trade groups sue to stop illegal imports and recover money. For fraud, the top fine goes up to three times the value of the goods; for gross negligence, up to the lesser of three times the value or ten times the owed duties, taxes, and fees. It also sets a five‑year import ban after a fraud judgment and a two‑year ban after a gross‑negligence judgment, including for affiliated persons, and creates a presumption that a buyer knew about violations if they buy from multiple affiliated sellers already found to have cheated. The bill’s short title is stated as the Fighting Trade Cheats Act of 2025.

The bill creates a private right to sue: eligible “interested parties” (U.S. manufacturers, producers, wholesalers, certain unions, and trade associations) can file in federal court, seek an order to block further violating imports, and recover their losses plus an additional penalty equal to three times those losses, along with legal costs and fees. The U.S. government may intervene, and in a national emergency the President may nullify a court order under existing law. People who commit fraud or gross negligence (and their affiliates) are also barred from the Customs Importer of Record program, and their importer numbers must be revoked; “affiliated” can be determined using signs like similar goods, common shippers, or import histories to prevent shell‑company evasion.

• Who is affected: Importers and their affiliates; U.S. manufacturers, producers, wholesalers, certain unions, and trade associations as defined in the bill.
• What changes: Higher fines; 5‑year (fraud) and 2‑year (gross negligence) import bans; a presumption of buyer knowledge after multiple affiliated cheats; private lawsuits with strong remedies; and exclusion/revocation from the Importer of Record program .
• When: Import bans start on the date of a final judgment for the violation.