CBP Withdraws Some Regulatory Proposals, Delays Others

The Trump administration appears to have made some notable changes to the list of regulations affecting international trade set forth in its semiannual regulatory agendas. Below are highlights of the most recent such agendas for the departments of Homeland Security and the Treasury.

Short-term actions

The following rules are under departmental or bureau review and could be issued within the next year (expected timeframes are indicated in parentheses).

– proposed rules to require the advance submission of export manifest data through ACE for cargo transported by rail (October 2025; previously July 2024) and by vessel (October 2025; previously September 2024)

– an interim final rule to require the transmission of additional data elements for the Air Cargo Advance Screening program (July 2025; first time published)

– a proposed rule to eliminate the paper-based bond application and approval processes and require all bonds to be filed by sureties using an electronic data interchange or email (August 2025; previously November 2024)

Long-term actions

The following are listed as long-term actions, meaning they are still under development and not expected to see regulatory action within the next 12 months. Some of these had previously been listed as short-term actions, but their timeframes for action are now listed as “to be determined.”

– (1) a proposed rule to create a new process for entering low-value shipments and to require additional data elements for such shipments and (2) a final rule to make goods subject to certain trade or national security actions ineligible for the de minimis exemption (a proposed rule was issued in January 2025); these rules may eventually be withdrawn because commercial de minimis entries from all countries were suspended by a presidential executive order as of Aug. 29

– a final rule requiring customs brokers to verify the identity of importers and non-resident importers (a proposed rule was issued in August 2019)

– a final rule creating a procedure for the disclosure of information otherwise protected by the Trade Secrets Act to a trademark owner when goods bearing suspected counterfeit trademarks have been voluntarily abandoned (a proposed rule was issued in August 2019)

Withdrawn

The following rules previously appeared as short-term actions but are now listed as having been withdrawn.

– an interim final rule extending duty-free treatment to products exported and returned to the U.S. within three years after having been exported

– a proposed rule seeking to promote the speed, accuracy, and transparency of administrative rulings concerning the importation of articles that may be subject to Section 337 exclusion orders issued by the International Trade Commission

– further action to set forth due process procedures for CBP to follow before suspending or revoking assigned entry filer codes, immediate delivery privileges, or remote location fling privileges

– further action on regulatory amendments designed to encourage participation in the prior disclosure program and to enhance the effectiveness of the duty/revenue demand process

No Longer Listed

The following rules appeared as short-term actions in the previous semiannual regulatory agenda but do not appear on the current agenda.

– a proposed rule to update, modernize, and streamline the process for enforcing the prohibition against the importation of goods mined, produced, or manufactured in any foreign country by convict or forced labor or indentured labor under penal sanctions (proposed rule issued in December 2018)

– a proposed rule to exempt portions of the cargo inspection, exam, and security system of records from Privacy Act provisions because of criminal, civil, and administrative enforcement requirements

– a final rule to implement the U.S.-Mexico Canada Agreement with respect to non-preferential origin determinations for goods imported from Canada or Mexico (proposed rule issued July 2021)