S 3808 119th Congress
Fighting Trade Cheats Act of 2026
A bill to amend the Tariff Act of 1930 to increase civil penalties for, and improve enforcement with respect to, customs fraud, and for other purposes.
Official Title as Introduced Congress.gov
Open official Congress.gov recordSource-linked procedural record
Bill journey
This is a chronology, not a progress score. Politically.com does not classify stages or infer what comes next. Records sharing a date are grouped because not every source field supplies a time.
-
Introduction Congress.gov
Introduced
Introduced in the Senate.
Open bill recordOfficial action Congress.gov
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Open bill recordOfficial action Congress.gov
Introduced in Senate
Open bill recordText version Congress.gov
Introduced in Senate
A dated text-version record is available.
Open text record
View the complete bill journey as an accessible table
| Date and time | Record | Official detail | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| IntroductionIntroduced | Introduced in the Senate. | Congress.gov | |
| Official actionRead twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. | No additional detail supplied.IntroReferral · Senate | Congress.gov | |
| Official actionIntroduced in Senate | No additional detail supplied.IntroReferral · Library of Congress · Code 10000 | Congress.gov | |
| Text versionIntroduced in Senate | A dated text-version record is available. | Congress.gov |
House roll calls join only on matching Congress, legislation type, and number. Senate roll calls join only on matching source-supplied document type and number, not question text. Committee and related-measure relationships have no date in their relationship records and therefore are counted above but never placed on the chronology.
Congressional Research Service
CRS summary
Fighting Trade Cheats Act of 2026This bill increases penalties for, and establishes additional enforcement mechanisms related to, fraudulent and grossly negligent violations of U.S. customs laws.Specifically, the bill increases the maximum civil penalty for a fraudulent violation to three times the domestic value of the merchandise. (Currently, the maximum penalty is the domestic value of the merchandise.) It prohibits a person who commits a fraudulent violation from importing merchandise into the United States for a five-year period.Additionally, the bill increases the maximum civil penalty for a grossly negligent violation to the lesser of (1) 3 times the domestic value of the merchandise; or (2) 10 times the lawful duties, taxes, and fees. (Currently, the maximum penalty is the lesser of the domestic value of the merchandise or four times the lawful duties, taxes, and fees.) It prohibits a person who commits a grossly negligent violation from importing merchandise into the United States for a two-year period.Further, the bill applies these importation bans to an affiliated person (e.g., a family member or employee) of the person who committed the fraudulent or grossly negligent violation.The bill establishes a private right of action for an interested party (e.g., a manufacturer) affected by customs fraud or grossly negligent violations.The bill prohibits any person (or an affiliated person) who commits a fraudulent or grossly negligent violation from participating in the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Importer of Record program, and further requires revocation of their importer of record numbers.
Official documents
Text versions
- Introduced in SenateFeb 9, 2026