Grunfeld, Desiderio, Lebowitz, Silverman & Klestadt LLP, a premier customs and international trade law firm, announced today that Valerie Sorensen-Clark has joined the firm as a partner in New York. Sorensen-Clark comes to GDLSK from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, where she held senior roles for nearly a decade and acted as one of the agency’s primary advocates in some of the most consequential tariff disputes in recent years. Sorensen-Clark most recently served in CBP’s Office of Chief Counsel, International Trade Litigation,...

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Key Takeaways Tariff evasion is now treated as a criminal offense in the United States rather than a compliance issue. Enforcement is expanding through coordinated investigations targeting practices such as transshipment and misreporting. Both U.S. and non-U.S. businesses must strengthen customs compliance and oversight to avoid significant legal and financial risks. U.S. President Donald Trump’s use of tariffs in the global trade arena has helped push trade fraud to the top of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)’s enforcement agenda....

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On April 27, 2026, the Department of Commerce (“Commerce”) published a Federal Register notice adding a duty-free code in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (“HTSUS”) with retroactive effect to cover goods subject to the Section 232 aluminum, steel, or copper tariff regimes that do not, in fact, contain these metals.  This new provision, subheading 9903.82.01, applies retroactively to April 6, 2026, the effective date of Proclamation 11021, which overhauled the Section 232 aluminum, steel, and copper tariff regimes (see Update of...

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Overview Firms with exposure to the US-EU international trade relationship cannot rely on last year’s Turnberry Agreement as a complete or settled solution for managing trade risk. Rather, they should ensure that their compliance practices and strategic visions are adjusted to account for recent and anticipated developments in the rollout of Turnberry as a framework. The promised return to relatively open terms of trade still needs time in the oven. Turnberry framework and aftermath When EC President Ursula von der Leyen and...

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In this week’s Roar: Air cargo rates up, electronic tariff refund Phase 1, new emergency surcharges, the state of the global maritime system, and how AI is handling operational bottlenecks. Since mid-March, air cargo rates are up 10% as the war in Iran has squeezed capacity, pushed up oil prices, and disrupted flights across the Middle East. Jet fuel costs have nearly doubled, resulting in new surcharges on many routes. For shipments where time is of the essence, there are now frequent delays averaging...

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Today, April 20, 2026, marks a significant milestone for importers seeking to recover duties paid under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).  U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has officially launched the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE) Phase 1 functionality within CBP’s digital system for processing imports and exports—the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). Following the invalidation of certain IEEPA-based tariffs, CAPE serves as the primary administrative mechanism for securing refunds. However, CAPE is not a “blanket” refund process. CBP...

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