On this episode, the Trade Guys unpack the latest White House executive order on customs enforcement. They also give an update on the Trump administration&#x27;s use of Section 232 and Section 301 as tools in its broader tariff strategy.

Customs Enforcement and Section 232 and 301 Tariffs

The Trade Guys

# Full Transcript

**Podcast:** The Trade Guys

## Transcript

[SPEAKER_A] I'm Scott.

[SPEAKER_B] I'm Bill. And we're the Trade Guys.

[SPEAKER_C] You're listening to the Trade Guys, a podcast produced by CSIS, where we talk about trade in terms that everyone can understand. I'm Alex Kisling, and I'm here with Scott Miller and Bill Reinsch, the CSIS Trade Guys. Thanks for listening to the Trade Guys. On today's episode, we look at the White House's new executive order on customs enforcement. Then we dig into the latest on the Trump administration's use of Sections 232 and 301 as tools in its broader tariff strategy. All that and more on today's episode of the Trade Guys. Trade Guys, it's great to be with you again. And as we have done in recent weeks, we're going to start today's episode with an update from Bill on the latest on the tariff refunds process. Bill, what's happening this week?

[SPEAKER_B] Well, this is becoming mind-numbingly complicated, I think. And I told Alex and Scott before we began that be prepared for some rants this episode, and this is going to be one of them.

[SPEAKER_C] Rant away.

[SPEAKER_B] There was a hearing on Tuesday before Judge Eaton, who has been put in charge of all this. There had been this scuffle that we alluded to about who needed to show up from the government for this, and the judge was insisting that the customs commissioner show up, and the administration pushed back, and the judge backed down, and they had somebody else there to explain what was going on. It turns out now that Customs has so far sorted most of the tariffs into 3 categories. The category that they're already paying out, and some $23 billion they've said has gone to Treasury to be refunded. So somebody somewhere ought to be getting their money back fairly soon. That's sort of phase 1. And what CBP did on Tuesday, this is June 9th at the hearing, was to announce that they're going to begin phase 2. On June 29th, and these are items that have been in, I guess the word they used is the reconciliation process, which I think means duties that were being reviewed by customs before being finalized. And we're still in sort of this interim process of reviewing what the correct amount was and what the correct designation of the product was. So they're going to move on to Phase 2 on June 29th, and everybody seems happy with that. The legal dispute is over Phase 3. which is those duties where liquidation has been finalized. And we talked about this before. Finalizing liquidation usually takes place, I think, a max of 310 days after entry. And what it denotes is that it's basically, it's the final action. Customs has finally decided what the duty is. They've made any adjustments from their preliminary judgment about that, and then they've finalized and put all the record keeping. somewhere. The judge's position has been from the beginning, and he ordered that all the tariffs, including those, needed to be refunded right away. And he's backed off a...

Customs Enforcement and Section 232 and 301 Tariffs

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.

Customs Enforcement and Section 232 and 301 Tariffs

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.