Trump Tariff Flip-Flopping Causes ‘Glitch’ That Prevents Customs From Collecting Even The Tariffs He Left in Place: Report

AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein

If you’ve found it difficult to keep up with the status of the tariffs being imposed by President Donald Trump, you’re not alone. The federal government itself is having so much trouble calculating who is supposed to be charged how much, U.S. Customs and Border Protection can’t even collect tariffs at all right now, according to a CNBC report.

Earlier this month, Trump held a press conference in the Rose Garden to sign an executive order imposing sweeping new tariffs on virtually all imports. Multiple Republicans and some of the president’s staunchest defenders on Fox News have spoken out to criticize the tariffs as causing unnecessary economic harm.

Wednesday afternoon, the president wrote a Truth Social post to announce there would be “a 90 day PAUSE” for the increased tariffs on 75 countries that he said had reached out to the U.S. to negotiate, along with raising the tariff on China to 125% because of the “lack of respect that China has shown to the World’s Markets.”

It’s been a roller coaster ride for markets, investors, and both U.S. and foreign businesses, as the list of countries — and aquatic flightless birds — subject to the tariffs has changed on a seemingly daily basis, along with the rates and exemptions and other details.

Those rapid changes have made it tough for Customs to keep up, reported CNBC’s Lori Ann LaRocco on Friday, causing “a glitch in the system that is used to exempt freight from tariffs, including shipments from China that were already on the water at the time of this week’s whipsaw in tariffs policy, and any trade from nations now under the 90-day pause put in place by the Trump administration.”

According to CNBC, Customs discovered that the “entry code for U.S. shippers to use to have their freight exempted [was] not working,” and sent out an alert saying that the problem was “being reviewed.”

To avoid cargo getting delayed and further rocking an already unsettled economy, Customs has temporarily changed the entry process, but this means that no tariffs are being collected at all and will have to be paid at a later date. Wrote LaRocco:

In the alert, Customs advised filers “to transmit cargo release separately and follow up with the summary filing when resolved.”

Normally, when a U.S. importer pays for their freight, they file both the cargo release forms and their financial papers, so they can pay for their cargo. To keep the cargo moving, Customs is advising importers to file the cargo release form now, and file the financial form later, once the glitch is corrected.

For now, that means the tariffs are not being collected by the U.S. government.

Logistically, it is likely simpler to collect the appropriate tariffs as the cargo is at Customs to enter the U.S., and having to wait until later may result lower revenues than expected from the tariffs due to higher administrative costs for collection efforts or some degree of noncompliance.

Adding to the challenges are some of Trump’s comments, which, as several importers quoted in the CNBC article pointed out, have added to the “confusion” and “policy chaos,” because “social media posts are not law.” Deciphering the steady stream of executive orders, Truth Social posts, Oval Office pressers, and other communications from the White House has left American importers struggling to “figure out when the new tariffs will be deployed” and plan accordingly.