I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1869
To strengthen the Department of Justice’s enforcement against trade-related
crimes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH5, 2025
Mrs. H
INSON(for herself, Mr. MOOLENAAR, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mr.
W
ITTMAN, Mr. IVEY, Mr. LAHOOD, Mr. LIEU, Mr. KILEYof California,
Ms. D
ELAURO, Mr. HIGGINSof Louisiana, Ms. ROSS, Mr. FINSTAD, Ms.
S
TEVENS, Mr. CISCOMANI, Mr. CORREA, Mr. KELLYof Pennsylvania, Mr.
C
ARSON, Mr. CLINE, Mr. DAVISof North Carolina, Mr. RULLI, Mr.
M
OULTON, Mr. NUNNof Iowa, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. GIMENEZ, Ms. CASTOR
of Florida, Mr. M
ORAN, Mr. GOTTHEIMER, Mr. NEWHOUSE, Ms. LEEof
Nevada, Mrs. D
INGELL, Mr. NORCROSS, Mr. DELUZIO, Mr. TORRESof
New York, and Ms. T
OKUDA) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To strengthen the Department of Justice’s enforcement
against trade-related crimes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting American 4
Industry and Labor from International Trade Crimes Act 5
of 2025’’. 6
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SEC. 2. TRADE-RELATED CRIMES DEFINED. 1
In this Act, the term ‘‘trade-related crimes’’ shall be 2
defined as violations of law that are implicated by criminal 3
activities in furtherance of the evasion of duties, tariffs, 4
and other import- and export-related fees, import and ex-5
port restrictions, or requirements imposed by the Tariff 6
Act of 1930, the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, the Trade 7
Act of 1974, or the Countering America’s Adversaries 8
Through Sanctions Act, as well as all other laws and regu-9
lations involving criminal activities relating to United 10
States imports and exports, trade-based money laun-11
dering, and smuggling. 12
SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF NEW STRUCTURE TO PROS-13
ECUTE INTERNATIONAL TRADE CRIMES. 14
(a) I
NGENERAL.—A task force, named program, or 15
other similar structure to investigate and prosecute trade- 16
related crimes, with particular emphasis on violations of 17
the statutes enumerated in section 4(a)(2), shall be estab-18
lished within the Criminal Division of the Department of 19
Justice not later than 120 days after the date on which 20
appropriations are made available to carry out this Act, 21
and coordinated by a supervisory criminal trial attorney 22
selected by the Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal 23
Division or other official designated by the Attorney Gen-24
eral. 25
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(b) IMPLEMENTATION.—To support this effort, the 1
Attorney General shall— 2
(1) create within the Criminal Division of the 3
Department of Justice new positions for criminal 4
trial attorneys and associated support personnel re-5
sponsible for leading and coordinating trade-related 6
crime investigations and cases, including those that 7
may significantly impact more than one district; 8
(2) ensure that experienced and technically 9
qualified criminal prosecutors support the effort; and 10
(3) promote and ensure effective interaction 11
with law enforcement, industry representatives, and 12
the public in matters relating to trade-related 13
crimes. 14
SEC. 4. DUTIES AND FUNCTIONS OF NEW TRADE CRIMES 15
STRUCTURE. 16
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Through the efforts of the task 17
force, named program, or other structure identified in sec-18
tion 3(a), the Attorney General shall accomplish each of 19
the following: 20
(1) Increase the capabilities and capacity of the 21
Criminal Division of the Department of Justice to 22
prosecute trade-related crimes. 23
(2) Increase the number of trade-related crimes 24
being investigated and prosecuted, including pursu-25
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ant to health, safety, financial, and economic trade- 1
related crimes, including— 2
(A) section 305 of title 13, United States 3
Code; 4
(B) section 15 or 16 of the Toxic Sub-5
stances Control Act (15 U.S.C. 2614 or 2615); 6
(C) section 371 of title 18, United States 7
Code; 8
(D) section 541 of title 18, United States 9
Code; 10
(E) section 542 of title 18, United States 11
Code; 12
(F) section 543 of title 18, United States 13
Code; 14
(G) section 545 of title 18, United States 15
Code; 16
(H) section 546 of title 18, United States 17
Code; 18
(I) section 554 of title 18, United States 19
Code; 20
(J) section 1001 of title 18, United States 21
Code; 22
(K) section 1341 of title 18, United States 23
Code; 24
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(L) section 1343 of title 18, United States 1
Code; 2
(M) section 1349 of title 18, United States 3
Code; 4
(N) section 1589 of title 18, United States 5
Code; 6
(O) section 1956 of title 18, United States 7
Code; 8
(P) section 1957 of title 18, United States 9
Code; 10
(Q) section 2320 of title 18, United States 11
Code; and 12
(R) section 301 of the Federal Food, 13
Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 331). 14
For the purposes of this Act, this list does not in-15
clude violations of national security-related laws and 16
regulations, including the Arms Export Control Act 17
(22 U.S.C. 2771 et seq.), International Emergency 18
Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.), Ex-19
port Control and Reform Act (50 U.S.C. 4801 et 20
seq.), and the Trading with the Enemy Act (50 21
U.S.C. 4305(b)). 22
(3) Participate in basic and advanced training 23
events with Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. 24
Customs and Border Protection, and other Federal 25
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agencies and provide technical assistance, where ap-1
propriate, to Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. 2
Customs and Border Protection, and other Federal 3
agencies with respect to the investigation and pros-4
ecution of trade-related crimes. 5
(4) Develop multi-jurisdictional responses and 6
partnerships with respect to trade-related crimes 7
through informational, administrative, and techno-8
logical support to other Federal agencies and agen-9
cies of countries that are trading partners of the 10
United States, as a means for such agencies to ac-11
quire the necessary knowledge, personnel, and spe-12
cialized equipment to investigate and prosecute 13
trade-related crimes. 14
(5) Participate in nationally coordinated inves-15
tigations in any case in which the Attorney General 16
determines such participation to be necessary, as 17
permitted by the available resources of the Depart-18
ment of Justice. 19
(6) Ensure that all components that enforce 20
laws against trade-related crimes regularly consult 21
with each other. 22
(b) A
BSENCE OFEXCLUSION OFPURSUINGOTHER 23
R
EMEDIES.—Litigation by the Criminal Division of the 24
Department of Justice shall not preclude additional crimi-25
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nal prosecution or civil action against trade-related viola-1
tions. Nothing in this Act shall prevent the Criminal Divi-2
sion, Civil Division, and other Department of Justice com-3
ponents from pursuing enforcement action where appro-4
priate. 5
SEC. 5. ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS. 6
The Attorney General, in consultation with the Sec-7
retary of Homeland Security, shall submit to the Com-8
mittee on the Judiciary, Committee on Ways and Means, 9
and Committee on Financial Services of the House of Rep-10
resentatives, and the Committee on the Judiciary and 11
Committee on Finance of the Senate a report on the work 12
of the Department of Justice with respect to investigation 13
and enforcement of trade-related crimes. Specifically, the 14
report shall— 15
(1) be submitted not later than one year after 16
the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually 17
thereafter, not later than February 1 of each year 18
that begins after the submission of the first report; 19
(2) include annual statistics on the volume of 20
publicly charged trade-related crimes and indict-21
ments; 22
(3) include a summary on how the funds appro-23
priated for trade-related crimes were utilized in the 24
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prior reporting period, including staff and operating 1
expenses; and 2
(4) provide an estimate of any additional fund-3
ing needed to combat trade-related crimes. 4
SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 5
(a) I
NGENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro-6
priated to the Attorney General $20,000,000 for fiscal 7
year 2026 to carry out this Act. Of sums appropriated, 8
at least 80 percent shall be used by the Criminal Division 9
to support criminal prosecution of trade crimes as defined 10
in this Act, including salaries and expenses necessary to 11
hire and train investigatory and prosecutorial personnel, 12
develop multijurisdictional and multiagency partnerships, 13
and conduct enforcement actions. 14
(b) O
THERCRIMINALPROSECUTION AND CIVILEN-15
FORCEMENT.—Remaining sums may be used by the De-16
partment of Justice to support criminal prosecution of 17
trade crimes by other components and civil enforcement. 18
(c) A
VAILABILITY OFAMOUNTS.—Amounts appro-19
priated pursuant to the authorization of appropriations 20
under subsection (a) shall remain available until expended. 21
Æ
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