US border agency steps up scrutiny of imports

US Customs and Border Protection processes around 137,000 import entries daily, handling nearly US$9.8 billion in goods while also managing significant interdiction and enforcement activity. Revenue collection and duty enforcement have re-emerged as central priorities, with post-entry reviews recovering tens of billions of dollars in additional duties. Increasing use of data analytics is allowing risk to be segmented by importer behaviour, commodity type and trading patterns, raising the compliance expectations placed on importers. A recent executive order issued under President Trump aims to tighten customs enforcement. On a typical day, US Customs and Border Protection processes around 137,000 entries of merchandise, representing roughly US$9.8 billion worth of imports. Alongside that administrative burden sits a significant enforcement workload: in a single day the agency may seize around 1,598 pounds of illicit drugs, including approximately 33 pounds of fentanyl, as well as intercept about US$20 million worth of goods infringing intellectual property rights. It is a dual mandate that leaves little room for operational slack. Enforcement priorities, or Priority Trade Issues, are not static; they evolve regularly in response to policy direction, geopolitical pressures and shifting trade risks. Over the past 16 months, revenue protection and collection has re-emerged as a central focus, with greater emphasis placed on ensuring duties are correctly assessed and trade remedies properly applied. The underlying objective is to maintain what officials describe as a level playing field for domestic industry. In reality, revenue collection is not a new function for US customs authorities. Before the modern US tax system took shape, import duties formed the backbone of federal income. The Tariff Act of 1789, signed on July 4 of that year, established one of the earliest structured systems of taxation in the United States, levying duties on goods entering the country. What is changing now is not the principle, but the machinery. Entry Summary Reviews have recovered an estimated US$34.41 billion in additional revenue, adjusting declarations after importation where discrepancies are identified. It is a reminder that customs enforcement does not end at the border; much of the financial correction work happens after goods have already entered circulation. Alongside this, the agency’s use of data and targeting tools has become more sophisticated. Risk is increasingly segmented by importer profile, commodity type and trading behaviour, allowing enforcement teams to prioritise interventions where anomalies or higher-risk patterns are detected across vast transaction volumes. For a system processing hundreds of thousands of entries each day, that kind of segmentation is structural. Without it, the scale alone would overwhelm enforcement capacity. Compliance is no longer a static checklist but a moving target shaped by data analysis, policy shifts and post-entry scrutiny. Penalties or duty adjustments can have material consequences for cash flow and margins, particularly in sectors operating on tight working capital cycles. There is a broader tension running through the system as well. Importing is often framed as a commercial necessity, but it sits within a framework of national enforcement priorities and revenue protection. As customs authorities expand their analytical capabilities and sharpen their focus on compliance, the expectation on importers is correspondingly higher.