The Trump administration’s new plan to stop the importation of counterfeit goods came with a warning to e-commerce outlets to buckle down on online sales of illicit items or risk penalties.
Department of Homeland Security and White House officials introduced on Friday a dozen steps meant to shutter the “illicit trade epidemic,” estimated to cost U.S. businesses as much as $500 billion. The plan asks the Justice Department to find civil fines and penalties it can impose on people selling these items, instructs the Commerce Department to launch a consumer campaign to teach the public how to spot fake items, and tells online sellers such as eBay and Amazon to start blocking bad foreign sellers who are pushing items that violate U.S. intellectual laws.
“Economic security is homeland security,” acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf said during at the announcement in Arlington, Virginia. “This illicit trade must be stopped in its tracks.”
Last April, President Trump signed a memorandum directing the government to look into how it can curtail the illegal sale of counterfeit items online. Customs and Border Protection is leading the new efforts because of its role as the inspector of all incoming foreign mail and packages, which is how items purchased online from overseas sellers get into the country. More than 600 million express and international mail shipments passed through CBP inspection facilities in fiscal 2019, though not all can be inspected due to the sheer volume.
Last month, CBP officers inspecting a shipment of boxes from Hong Kong found $130,000 in fake designer bags. The officials said these types of busts are normal and that any manufactured item is at risk of being counterfeited and sold online because sellers face little chance of being caught or prosecuted.
“This is an absolutely righteous threat that is growing exponentially every single year,” said acting CBP Commissioner Mark Morgan.
When packages are stopped and found to contain something that is illegal, including fake goods, it is difficult for federal agents to then track down the shipper and bring them to justice. Last year, the DHS agency that investigates counterfeit goods made $546 million in seizures.
White House Director of Trade and Manufacturing Policy Peter Navarro said the federal government cannot solely be responsible for policing the internet for fake goods or ones made with unsafe ingredients, the first step to keeping illegal goods from being shipped to the United States.
“The flood of counterfeit contraband coming … You cannot seize and inspect your way out of it,” said Navarro.
