Catenaa, Tuesday, July 29, 2025- The US Justice Department is putting American companies on notice that they could be prosecuted if they chose to evade President Trump’s reciprocal tariffs.
The message came in a DOJ announcement earlier this month stipulating that prosecutors would step up investigations into suspiciously classified imports and charge those who misidentify products with fraud.
The plan, to be carried out by the DOJ’s new Market, Government, and Consumer Fraud Unit, marks a shift in enforcement tactics from prior administrations that relied mostly on policing misconduct through administrative proceedings, even during Trump’s first term in office.
The new Trump administration instead wants to prioritize criminal charges against companies and individuals that try to evade US tariffs.
The overarching strategy was first outlined by Matthew R. Galeotti, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, who wrote in a May memo that an increasing focus on white collar crime would include “trade and customs fraudsters, including those who commit tariff evasion.”
At the same time, the Trump administration finds itself in the unusual position of defending the legality of the duties it pledges to enforce.
Oral arguments in a federal lawsuit challenging the President’s tariffs are set to take place before the US Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., this Thursday.
The small business importers challenging the legal standing of the duties already proved it was possible to temporarily derail Trump’s global tariffs with a lower court victory in May.
In a separate challenge, two toy manufacturers are scheduled to make their arguments against Trump’s tariffs before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on September 30, following their own lower court victory.
