# 119-s-3808: Fighting Trade Cheats Act of 2026

119-s-3808, Fighting Trade Cheats Act of 2026, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Sen. Britt, Katie Boyd [R-AL] (R-AL); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-07-31).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3808
- As of: 2026-07-31
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-s-3808
- Congress: 119
- Title: Fighting Trade Cheats Act of 2026
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2026-02-09
- Sponsor: Sen. Britt, Katie Boyd [R-AL] (R-AL)
- Cosponsors: 4
- Policy area: Foreign Trade and International Finance
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-07-31

## Summary

**Tougher enforcement on customs fraud.** This bill would raise civil penalties, create a private right of action for triple damages, and bar repeat offenders from the importer-of-record program. - U.S. manufacturers, producers, wholesalers, and unions could sue importers for fraudulent or grossly negligent violations to recover their losses plus triple damages, costs, and reasonable attorneys' fees, and to seek injunctions. - Importers and affiliated persons would face higher penalties and tighter rules, including a 5-year ban for fraudulent violations, a 2-year ban for grossly negligent violations, a new penalty formula using 3x domestic value with a 10x cap, and a presumption of knowledge for some purchasers. - The importer-of-record program would exclude those found to commit fraud or gross negligence. Customs and Border Protection could revoke importer numbers and deem related entities to stop shell companies based on similar goods, common exporters or shippers, and past import volumes.

## Cosponsors (4)

- Sen. Baldwin, Tammy [D-WI] (D-WI), 2026-02-09T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Tillis, Thomas [R-NC] (R-NC), 2026-02-09T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Fetterman, John [D-PA] (D-PA), 2026-02-09T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. McCormick, David [R-PA] (R-PA), 2026-07-29T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- New private lawsuits for domestic firms: benefit, medium. If enacted, certain U.S. businesses, unions, and trade groups would be able to sue in federal court when imports were brought into the U.S. by fraud or gross negligence. A successful plaintiff would recover compensatory damages plus an additional penalty equal to three times those damages (so total…
- Importer program exclusion rules: cost, medium. If enacted, people or firms that CBP or a court determines committed a fraudulent or grossly negligent customs violation would be ineligible for the importer-of-record program. Their affiliated persons would also be ineligible. The Secretary would have to revoke an importer-of-record number if the…
- Higher penalties and import bans: cost, medium. If enacted, the bill would raise civil penalties and add multi-year import bans for people found to commit fraud or gross negligence on customs filings. For fraudulent violations, penalties would be set at three times the domestic value and the violator and their affiliates would be barred from imp…
- Presumed knowledge for buyers: cost, low. If enacted, the bill would create a legal presumption that a purchaser knew about fraud or gross negligence when they buy goods from two or more affiliated sellers after those sellers were determined to have violated customs law. The presumption would apply to purchases from the second or later aff…

## Related bills

- 119-s-1541: SHIPS for America Act of 2025
- 119-s-1241: Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025
- 119-s-524: Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2025
- 119-s-3267: ASAP Act
- 119-s-1547: America the Beautiful Act
- 119-s-339: Nancy Gardner Sewell Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage Act

## Sources
- [119-s-3808 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/3808)

## Related
- [119-s-1541: SHIPS for America Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1541)
- [119-s-1241: Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1241)
- [119-s-524: Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-524)
- [119-s-3267: ASAP Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3267)
- [119-s-1547: America the Beautiful Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1547)
- [119-s-339: Nancy Gardner Sewell Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage A…](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-339)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3808 (as of 2026-07-31).