Tariff and Trade Advisory Services

They cover the full path from what your goods are called to what you finally pay. That starts with HTS classification, assigning the correct tariff number and documenting why, then moves to duty reduction through free trade agreements, drawback, First Sale valuation, and foreign trade zones. It also includes customs guidance on entry method and reasonable care, program-specific compliance such as UFLPA forced-labor due diligence, and tariff mitigation when a new Section 301 or IEEPA action hits. Tariff work is one branch of the practice, not the whole of it. The point is one accountable team that both finds the savings and defends them. At CargoTrans the advisors are licensed brokers who also move the freight, so the position they recommend is the same one filed on your entry, with no gap between advice and what CBP receives.

A customs broker files the entry you hand them; an advisory partner questions whether that entry is right in the first place. A broker keeps goods moving and clears them against the classification and valuation provided. An advisor audits those classifications, hunts for duty you should not be paying, models the impact of new trade actions, and builds the documentation that survives an audit. CargoTrans is both, which is the advantage: the advisor who reclassifies a SKU or claims an FTA sits next to the broker who files it, so the strategy and the filing never diverge. You get a broker's execution and an advisor's second opinion from one licensed team rather than two firms pointing at each other.

Usually, yes, and the first place we look is your existing classifications. Many importers pay a higher rate for years because a SKU was classified once, defensively, and never revisited. We audit the numbers against the current Harmonized Tariff Schedule, then layer in the programs you qualify for: free trade agreements like USMCA, duty drawback on re-exported goods, First Sale for export valuation, and foreign trade zone or bonded strategies. Each recommendation is tied to a dollar figure you can verify against your own CBP payments, not a slide. Where you overpaid in the past, we pursue refunds through post-entry corrections, including IEEPA refund claims where an action is unwound. The savings are only worth claiming if they hold up, so every one is documented as we go.

The HTS number is the single input that sets your duty rate, and a difference of one digit can move the rate by several points or trigger a Section 301 add-on you did not need to pay. Classification also drives whether a free trade agreement applies, whether antidumping duties attach, and what marking and documentation CBP expects. Because it is the root of the bill, a wrong number is expensive in both directions: it can overcharge you quietly for years or expose you to penalties if it understates duty. We classify each SKU against the current schedule, document the rationale line by line, and maintain the database so new products are added correctly rather than copied from a similar item by guess.

Tariff and trade actions are a moving target, so we treat them as a standing part of the advisory practice rather than a quarterly catch-up. New Section 301 lists, Section 232 actions, IEEPA orders, exclusion expirations, and UFLPA detentions can land with little warning and immediately raise your landed cost or hold your goods. We model which of your SKUs are affected, size the dollar impact, and recommend mitigation: an alternative sourcing country, a First Sale or tariff engineering change, an exclusion petition, a zone strategy, or a traceability package to release a detained shipment. You need this most if you import from countries in active trade disputes, run thin margins, or carry a broad SKU base where a single list can touch dozens of items. The value is acting on a change while options still exist instead of absorbing it.

Compliance is a running record, not a one-time filing. We build a documented basis for every classification, valuation method, and program claim, so your reasonable care file exists before CBP ever asks for it. As rules change, we track the lists, exclusions, and rate revisions that touch your goods and update the affected positions rather than letting stale entries drift out of compliance. Recordkeeping, prior disclosures where a past error surfaces, UFLPA supply-chain due diligence, and marking and origin rules all sit inside the same program. Because our advisors are the brokers who file your entries, a position and its documentation stay aligned, so when an audit arrives you are answering with a file that was built as freight moved, not assembled under deadline.

Yes, and for most importers this is where the largest recurring savings live. We qualify goods under USMCA and other free trade agreements, which means verifying origin, running the tariff-shift or regional-value rules, and producing the certifications that make the claim stand up. Beyond FTAs we pursue duty drawback on goods that are exported or destroyed, First Sale for export valuation to lower the dutiable value, and foreign trade zone or bonded strategies that defer or eliminate duty. Each program has strict documentation requirements, and a claim without the paper behind it is a penalty waiting to happen. We handle both sides: identifying which programs your supply chain qualifies for and building the records that let you actually keep the money.

A first-pass exposure review usually takes one to two weeks once we have your entry history. We pull your recent entry summaries, map duty paid by SKU and by country, and flag the classifications, valuations, and missed programs where money is likely sitting. That initial read tells you where the biggest recoverable duty and the biggest compliance risk are, so you can decide what to pursue first. A full classification audit across a deep SKU base takes longer, several weeks depending on catalog size, because each line is reviewed and documented. We sequence it so the highest-value items are examined first, which means the review starts paying for itself before the long tail of low-volume SKUs is finished.

To review your position accurately we ask for your entry history, ideally the CBP entry summaries or a broker export covering the last year or more, plus your current classification list and product descriptions or specs. For duty reduction work we need commercial invoices, valuation details, and your sourcing and export patterns so we can test drawback, First Sale, and FTA eligibility. If you have prior rulings, audits, CF-28 responses, or UFLPA correspondence, those help us understand the history. The cleaner the entry and product data, the faster we find the savings and the fewer assumptions we have to make. During the initial review we identify any gaps in that record, because missing documentation is itself a compliance risk worth closing before an audit forces the question.

Pricing follows the work rather than a flat retainer for everyone. An initial exposure review or classification audit is typically scoped as a fixed project based on SKU count and entry volume. Ongoing advisory, rule monitoring, and compliance support can run on a monthly basis sized to your import activity. Duty recovery work, such as drawback, IEEPA refunds, or refund claims, is often structured so a share of the fee tracks the money actually recovered, which aligns our incentive with yours. We start with a free exposure review that quantifies the savings on the table before you commit to anything, so the engagement is measured against real dollars. You are paying for duty reduced and risk closed, not for hours logged against a generic scope.

Yes, and that defense is built into how we work, not bolted on afterward. Every classification carries a documented rationale, the HTS logic, the relevant notes, and any rulings we relied on, so when a CF-28 request for information or a Focused Assessment arrives, the basis already exists. Because our advisors are the brokers who filed the entry, the same team that set the position responds to CBP, rather than an outside consultant reconstructing a decision they never made. Where a past error surfaces, we can file a prior disclosure to limit exposure before it becomes a penalty. The goal is that an audit is a matter of handing over a file that was maintained in real time, not a scramble to justify a number after the fact.

Yes. Antidumping and countervailing duties are among the most expensive and easily missed exposures in importing, because scope is defined by product and by country of origin, and the rates can dwarf the base tariff. We check whether your goods fall within an active AD or CVD order, verify the true country of origin against transshipment risk, and advise on the cash-deposit and scope-ruling implications before goods arrive rather than after a liability attaches. If your classification or sourcing puts you near the edge of an order, we help you document the basis for your position or request a scope ruling to remove the doubt. Getting this wrong is not just a duty bill; it can bring penalties and holds, so it belongs in the advisory review from the start.

We monitor the sources that move your rates, Federal Register notices, USTR actions on Section 301 and 232, IEEPA orders, exclusion grants and expirations, UFLPA enforcement, and FTA updates, and map each change against your actual SKU list rather than reading it in the abstract. When a change touches your goods, the affected items are flagged and the dollar impact is sized, so you get a specific this raises your cost on these SKUs by this much, along with a recommended response. That feed lives in the Captain platform so the exposure is visible rather than buried in email. The difference between planning a sourcing shift and eating a surprise duty is usually a few weeks of lead time, and the whole point of the tracking is to give you those weeks back.

You can, though most clients eventually consolidate because the advantage of advisory is strongest when the same team also files the entry. If you keep your current broker, we act as the advisory layer: we audit classifications, find the savings, and hand your broker documented positions to file, plus the rationale to defend them. That works, but it reintroduces the handoff we are usually hired to remove, where advice and filing sit in two firms. When advisory and brokerage are one team, a classification call, its documentation, and the actual entry never diverge, and a CBP inquiry is answered by the people who made the decision. We are happy to start alongside your broker and let the results decide how far you consolidate.