This is the latest installment of the Marketplace Briefing, a weekly Modern Retail+ column about the ever-changing e-commerce marketplace landscape. More from the series →Online merchants are encouraged by a new Trump administration effort to crack down on customs fraud after a surge in tariff evasion over the past year. President Donald Trump last week signed an executive order directing U.S. Customs and Border Protection to tighten enforcement against importers that underpay duties, conceal the true origin of products or use shell companies to avoid responsibility for customs violations.
For many online sellers, the order targets a problem they watched grow over the past year as freight companies, suppliers and middlemen increasingly pitched ways to make tariff costs disappear.
The executive order is aimed at closing loopholes that merchants and trade experts say have allowed some importers to evade tariffs while giving them an unfair pricing advantage over competitors that follow the rules. Sellers interviewed by Modern Retail said they largely support the move because they believe it will make competition more fair and discourage practices that became more common as tariffs rose. The order also targets the use of shell companies and imposes stricter requirements on importers of record, the parties responsible for customs filings and duty payments.
