CBP Acting Commissioner Pete Flores addresses the Trade and Cargo Security Summit

NEW ORLEANS –  Good afternoon, everyone. It's a full room. It’s good. It’s good to see the participation here today and everybody in the room really for a week of collaboration with us, really, as we start this off. That's what this event is for, right?  It's really to get you together where we talk about a lot of the important issues for all of us when we talk about trade and what we have going on right now. Lisa Beth, thank you. Appreciate the introduction (only the shorter, the better, in regard to reading my bio there.) It’s really great to be here in New Orleans and be here at our fourth year. Right, the fourth year we've been able to have the Trade and Cargo Security Summit. It's also great that we're doing it now instead of July. Every time, it seems, I get invited to New Orleans it's sometime in July, so this is much better. Much better weather to happen and be able to do this here today. So special thank you to our CTPAT partners that are here amongst other members of the trade industry. Appreciate everything you do for us in keeping our supply chain safe. We want to just say thank you and mention to everybody in the room, the crowd side, just thank you all for being able to carve out sometime, physically, to join us here in person today. And then, to those that are joining us virtually, as well, as we think about collaboration this week is our previous mention on key issues that we'll focus on over the next couple days. So, we're going to cover a couple of very important topics, including how CBP is fostering legitimate trade and travel. Also want to take a little bit of a time to highlight CBP's recent successes that impact the trade community. 

This summit is an excellent opportunity for us to provide critical updates on CBP efforts and to hear about issues that are important to you engage with you on areas of shared interests and continue to strengthen our partnership. As all of you know, the Trump Administration is taking a more of an “America First” focused approach to government. We're doubling down on that effort in support of the President's vision, but more importantly, doing what's right for the American consumers and taxpayers. Let's start with the recent trade tariffs that we've implemented. CBP remains steadfast in the enforcement of these measures designed to return manufacturing to U.S. shores. CBP is uniquely positioned to implement and enforce the President's tariffs using all our enforcement and revenue collection authorities. Since the start of the Administration, CBP has successfully implemented 21 related presidential actions, tariff actions. As a result of the Executive Orders related to fentanyl, progress has also been made in stopping fentanyl from coming across our borders. On the southern border, there has been a marked decrease in illegal crossings, falling from the thousands every day, nearly overwhelming our agents and officers at the border, to just 230 a day. It's an amazing 95% decrease from the previous administration that nearly averaged 5,100 per day. We are increasing our operational control at our nation’s borders and significantly increased our counter-fentanyl posture, showcasing our enhanced capabilities and commitment to combat the synthetic opioid epidemic through new partnerships, interdictions, and network illumination. CBP will continue to work with our partners to stop the flow of illicit fentanyl and arrest bad actors for fentanyl-related crimes. 

In addition, the Presidential Proclamation under Section 232 for steel and aluminum, along with autos, will bring back thousands of good-paying, long term production jobs to the United States. And finally, the recent implementation of reciprocal tariffs will reduce the trade deficit that harms our domestic production capacity, especially that of US manufacturing and the defense industrial base. In support of these tariff actions, CBP has developed multiple enhancements to the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE), including the collection of additional duties on imports from Canada and Mexico, additional duties on imports from China and Hong Kong, increases in section 232 duties on aluminum and steel. additional duties on automobile imports, and the application of a 10% worldwide reciprocal duties. In addition to tariff-related enhancements, CBP has also developed an automated solution for CBP officers in ACE to eliminate the inefficient and manual process for air cargo exam transfers and completed migration of the functionality to a modernized ACE portal, which is built on an upgraded platform and offers easier use and better performance. CBP's enforcement for trade laws is a critical component to national security. We prevent entry of dangerous counterfeit or noncompliant goods, protect American consumers, safeguard supply chains, and uphold a fair and secure economic environment. Every shipment we screen is not just about compliance. It's about making America safe. Securing the America front line, CBP strictly enforces all laws in presidential directives to secure our economic sovereignty. I want to thank the field and trade personnel for their hard work. They are a critical part of the enforcement of legitimate trade as they inspect shipments, collect duties and disrupt illicit activity. CBP is working closely with other government agencies to implement changes to trade policy. We will continue to provide detailed guidance to promote, compliance, and uniform enforcement across the nation. Another important issue today is de minimis shipments. In FY ‘24 CBP cleared almost 1.37 billion low-value packages or nearly 4 million a day. It's a dramatic increase from FY ‘19 when CBP processed 511 million de minimis shipments. By the end of the second quarter, FY ‘25, CBP has already processed over 778 million de minimis shipments. Not only are some of these entities trying to use the de minimis process as a “backdoor” around tariffs, some are knowingly or unknowingly, allowing drugs, and other harmful products that enter the United States through de minimis. And in FY ‘24, nearly 90% of all seizures in the cargo environment originated as a de minimis shipment. Ninety-eight per cent of narcotic seizure cases, not by weight or bulk, occurred in the de minimis environment. In addition, the de minimis entry process has become a gateway for IPR violations. De minimis shipments account for 97% of intellectual property rights seizures equating to 31 million counterfeit items. Such shipments account for 77% of health and safety seizures equating to more than 20 million dangerous or illicit items. In fiscal year 2024, almost two-thirds of our agriculture Emergency Action Notifications were issued for de minimis shipments. These notifications alert trade entities of non-compliance with Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and actions that must be taken to prevent entry of plant pests, prohibited plant products, or animal products capable of producing foreign animal diseases. Recognizing that de minimis shipments are problematic, the president has eliminated de minimis entry for products of China and Hong Kong as part of his Executive Order, Imposing Duties to Address Synthetic Opioid to a Supply Chain in the People's Republic of China. This action eliminates the de minimis entry process for millions of shipments going forward. We realize these changes have a significant impact to the trade community. CBP is working closely with private industry to ensure smooth implementation and to prevent low-value packages from being delayed at US supports of entry. As the trade environment evolves at a rapid pace, CBP remains committed to our partnership with you and the broader trade community. To assist the trade community with new policy implementation, we have established a multidisciplinary, cross-agency, Emergency Operations Center to serve, to ensure, swift and comprehensive implementation of presidential trade actions and proactively address enforcement actions or issues. Know that our ultimate goal is to collaborate to the best of our ability with each of you, even though, on occasion, the lead time is less than optimal. I think we can all agree on that.

Our work together is vital to ensuring the safety and economic security of our nation and partners. In particular, securing our supply chain remains a critical goal for CBP. In partnership with almost 11,000 members of CTPAT, the world's premiere Authorized Economic Operator program. CBP is committed to achieving this goal. CTPAT is designed to ensure supply chain transparency and accountability for stakeholders and CBP. At the same time the program provides measurable benefits incentives to participants. CTPAT has a larger global impact through the promotion of global security standards. Global security standards are designed to ensure that a company's brand name and reputation are not tarnished by security breaches. Such standards will protect the company's financial well-being in the process. Companies need to implement global security standards and secure your supply chains to be competitive in a global environment-economy. Internationally, CBP continues to work directly with other governments to uphold trade agreements and ensure a fair-trade environment. We are also collaborating with foreign customs administrations in multilateral organizations to ensure a comprehensive approach to trade enforcement and border security. Recently, CBP coordinated with the Department of State and the Government of Mexico to conduct validations of the for CTPAT partners, located in unsafe areas prone to cartel violence in Mexico. The validation visits confirmed that these partners are complying with CTPAT minimum security criteria. As a result, the CTPAT partners will continue to play a critical role in security, the efficient movement of trade flows across the Southwest Border. Going forward, CBP will continue to work diligently to enhance operational capabilities and foster mutual understanding between the agency and our foreign partners. 

Finally, CBP is committed to consistently improving targeting efforts to protect the rights of legitimate traders. We are expanding a digital platform and risk-based targeting to make legitimate trade faster, simpler, and more transparent. CBP has a robust artificial intelligence and analytical capability. It is our goal to leverage AI technology to better inform human decision-making and make things easier for post CBP and trade. Within the trade mission, AI helps us identify shipments and entities that pose a greater risk, and at an earlier point in time. This is helping to ensure that our borders are the last line of defense and not the first. We have been able to drive improvements and investigation, revenue recovery, network analysis and trade disruption impacts. CBP is putting in advanced data and analytics technology into the hands of its personnel to provide our workforce with the newest decision-making tools and information. Within the trade mission, we see AI as a driving force on how we modernize CBP's trade mission. We will continue working with you put in place the right protocols to maximize AI capabilities while establishing a proactive risk posture. Over the next few days, many of you will share your expertise in experience with us on panels and breakout sessions. Thank you for that.

The expertise here in the room and those joining us, virtually, is extensive. I look forward to the information and discussions that will happen over the next couple of days, and my thanks to all who made this important event possible. For more than 235 years since the founding of the U.S. Customs Service, CBP has worked to enforce U.S. laws to facilitate legitimate trade and protect the American economy. Our mission is essential to the nation's economic health and ensuring a level playing field for American businesses. And through those 235 years of service, we have always placed America first. It is in our heritage and DNA. And it will always be an important part of our mission: protecting the American people, safeguarding our borders and enhancing this nation's economic prosperity. 

Thank you all for being here and taking part of this important summit. I’m looking forward to meeting and hearing from you. 

Thank you.