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Europe Aims for Simpler Import Procedures

Amazon trailer trucks are seen at Cherbourg Harbor, France January 21, 2021. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
Amazon trailer trucks are seen at Cherbourg Harbor, France January 21, 2021. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
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Europe Aims for Simpler Import Procedures

Amazon trailer trucks are seen at Cherbourg Harbor, France January 21, 2021. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
Amazon trailer trucks are seen at Cherbourg Harbor, France January 21, 2021. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

Every day, more than 12 million packages enter the European Union – making it increasingly difficult for customs officers to check for illegal or undeclared goods or assess duties.

Many of those packages are small fry – in 2024, around 4.6 billion packages with a declared value of less than 22 Euro ($25.6) entered the EU. The Commission reported in August that only 0.0082% of all imported products were checked by customs authorities.

According to the EU court of auditors, customs checks in some member states are not rigorous enough and the uneven application of rules across the bloc makes fraud easy.

Customs Reform: What’s the plan?

Back in 2023, the European Commission presented proposals for a comprehensive reform with the aim to reduce bureaucracy and respond to challenges such as the steep rise in e-commerce.

A central point in the EU’s reform plans is how to manage this enormous flood of packages and parcels that enter the bloc from third countries, in particular China.

The EU also plans to abolish the current 150-Euro duty free limit on packages to ensure a level playing field for companies by 2028 – until then the temporary measures are to remain in force. In mid-December, the Member States also supported the introduction of a general 3-Euro-duty on low value parcels, effective from July 2026. This is also a temporary measure.

In a nutshell, the reform aims to modernize customs procedures, strengthen cooperation between member states’ customs authorities and improve checks on imports and exports. Furthermore, it promises improved collection of duties and taxes and better protection of the internal market.

To this end, there is to be a new EU Customs Data Hub which is to be overseen by the – still to be established – EU Customs Authority (EUCA).

The EUCA is intended to serve as a central hub to support national customs agencies. Once implemented, it will streamline customs procedures, improve the safety of online purchases for EU citizens, and provide national authorities with simpler, more uniform tools.

With this reform in place, a number of benefits should be realized – such as simplified reporting requirements via one single interface – which dovetails with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s promises to cut red tape. The EU also envisages savings of up to 2 billion Euro a year as the hub will replace customs IT infrastructure in member states.

EU Customs Authority

The EU Customs Authority is to be established from 2026, with the European Commission responsible for its launch: First access by companies to the Data Hub is scheduled by 2028, voluntary use of all businesses by 2032 and use becoming obligatory by 2038.

The first key decision will be its location. Nine member states have thrown their hats in the ring. The competitors are Belgium (Liège), Croatia (Zagreb), France (Lille), Italy (Rome), the Netherlands (The Hague), Poland (Warsaw), Portugal (Porto), Romania (Bucharest), and Spain (Málaga).

The EU executive will now assess the nine applications, seeking to ensure that the location will enable the authority to carry out its tasks and powers, recruit highly qualified and specialized staff, and offer training opportunities.

A decision is expected around February and will be made together with the member states and the EU Parliament.

The host country must offer immediately available buildings, advanced IT and security infrastructure, space for at least 250 employees, high-tech meeting rooms, and a “secure area” for the management of confidential information, among many other criteria.

Protecting EU markets

“Safer trade means a safer Europe,” said Polish Finance Minister Andrzej Domanski, explaining that a “strong and resilient” customs union guarantees the protection of the internal market, consumer safety and stable economic development.

But how to go about those joint trade and customs policies is still a bone of contention.

The customs reform is timely, as European capitals look to protect key strategic sectors against stiffening international trade headwinds.

Calls are growing in some parts for a “Made in Europe” scheme that would favor home-grown products. This position is being promoted especially by France.

The commission originally planned to publish a related EU initiative this month, but met with resistance from the Czechs, Slovaks, Irish, Swedes and Latvians and others.

The proposal has now been postponed until early next year, according to the Financial Times daily.

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Business

Trump Seeks to Close $1.6 trillion Revenue Gap with Raft of New Tariffs

US President Donald Trump speaks before signing the "Genius Act", which will develop regulatory framework for stablecoin cryptocurrencies and expand oversight of the industry, at the White House in Washington, D.C., US, July 18, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard/File Photo
US President Donald Trump speaks before signing the "Genius Act", which will develop regulatory framework for stablecoin cryptocurrencies and expand oversight of the industry, at the White House in Washington, D.C., US, July 18, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard/File Photo
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Trump Seeks to Close $1.6 trillion Revenue Gap with Raft of New Tariffs

US President Donald Trump speaks before signing the "Genius Act", which will develop regulatory framework for stablecoin cryptocurrencies and expand oversight of the industry, at the White House in Washington, D.C., US, July 18, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard/File Photo
US President Donald Trump speaks before signing the "Genius Act", which will develop regulatory framework for stablecoin cryptocurrencies and expand oversight of the industry, at the White House in Washington, D.C., US, July 18, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard/File Photo

The Trump administration this week stepped up its ambitious effort to replace about $1.6 trillion in lost tariff revenue that was eliminated by the Supreme Court's decision to strike down a range of the president's import taxes.

Recovering that lost revenue, which the White House was counting on to help offset the steep, multi-trillion dollar cost of its tax cuts, is possible but will be challenging, experts say. The administration has to use different legal provisions to impose new duties, and those provisions require longer, complex processes that US companies can use to seek exemptions. It could be months or more before it is clear how much revenue the replacement tariffs will yield.

“I wouldn't bet against this administration being able to get back on paper the same effective tariff rate they had before," said Elena Patel, co-director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. But the new approach will “make it easier for people to contest the tariffs, which is going to put a big asterisk on the revenue until all that is settled.”

On Wednesday, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the administration will investigate 16 economies — including the European Union — over whether their governments are subsidizing excessive factory capacity in a way that disadvantages US manufacturing. The investigation will also cover China, South Korea, and Japan, Greer said.

In addition, he said there would be a second investigation of dozens of countries to see if their failure to ban goods made by forced labor amounts to an unfair trade practice that harms the United States. That investigation will also cover the EU and China, as well as Mexico, Canada, Australia, and Brazil.

Both investigations are being conducted under Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act, which requires the administration to consult with the targeted countries, as well as hold public hearings and allow affected US industries to comment. A hearing as part of the factory capacity investigation will be held May 5, while a hearing on the forced labor investigation will occur April 28.

It's a far cry from the emergency law that President Donald Trump relied on in his first year in office, which allowed him to immediately impose tariffs on any country, at nearly any level, simply by issuing an executive order.

Moments after the Supreme Court's ruling, Trump imposed a 10% tariff on all imports under a separate legal authority, but that duty can only last for 150 days. The president has said he would raise it to 15%, the maximum allowed, but has yet to do so. Some two dozen states have already challenged the new tariffs. The administration is aiming to complete its Section 301 investigations before the 10% duties expire.

The effort underscores the importance that the Trump White House has placed on tariffs as a revenue-raiser at a time when the federal government is facing huge annual budget deficits for decades into the future. Previous administrations, by contrast, used tariffs more sparingly to narrowly protect specific industries.

Erica York, vice president of federal tax policy at the Tax Foundation, noted that the first investigation covers roughly 70% of imports, while the second would cover nearly all of them.

“That breadth suggests the goal isn’t to address the issues at hand, but instead to recreate a sweeping tariff tool,” she said, The AP news reported.

Trump sees tariffs as a way to force foreign countries to essentially help pay the cost of US government services, even though all recent economic studies find that American companies and consumers are paying the duties, including ones from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and economists at Harvard University. In his state of the union address last month, Trump even touted his tariffs as a potential replacement for the income tax, which would return the United States’ tax regime to the late 19th century.

Trump also wants tariffs to help pay for the tax cuts he extended in key legislation last year. The tax cut legislation is expected, according to the most recent estimates by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, to add $4.7 trillion to the national debt over a decade, while all Trump's duties, including ones not struck down by the court, were projected to offset about $3 trillion — or two-thirds of that cost.

The court’s ruling Feb. 20 that he could no longer impose emergency tariffs eliminated about $1.6 trillion in expected revenue over the next decade, according to the CBO.

Some of Trump's tariffs remain place, including previous duties on China and Canada that were imposed after earlier 301 investigations. The administration has also slapped tariffs on some specific products, including steel, lumber, and cars. Those, combined with the 10% tariff for part of this year, should yield about $668 billion over the next decade, the Tax Foundation estimates.

“It’s going to take a really big patchwork of these other investigations to make up for the (lost) tariffs,” York said.

The administration's efforts are also unusual because they reflect an overreliance on tariffs to bring in more government revenue. Trump has also said the duties are intended to return manufacturing to the United States, and he has used them to leverage trade deals.

“What makes this really different,” said Kent Smetters, executive director of the Penn Wharton Budget Model, “it is really the first time tariffs have been mainly used as a revenue raiser.”

Patel, meanwhile, argues that raising revenue can be done more reliably and straightforwardly by Congress. Laws like Section 301 are traditionally intended to be used to address specific trade policy concerns in particular countries.

“It’s not supposed to be there to raise revenue,” she said. “If we want to raise revenue through tariffs, then Congress should impose a broad based tariff.”

Business

Japan, South Korea Say Ready to Act Against FX Volatility

FILE PHOTO: Japan's Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama speaks on the day Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi delivers her policy speech in the parliament, in Tokyo, Japan, February 20, 2026. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Japan's Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama speaks on the day Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi delivers her policy speech in the parliament, in Tokyo, Japan, February 20, 2026. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo
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Japan, South Korea Say Ready to Act Against FX Volatility

FILE PHOTO: Japan's Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama speaks on the day Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi delivers her policy speech in the parliament, in Tokyo, Japan, February 20, 2026. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Japan's Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama speaks on the day Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi delivers her policy speech in the parliament, in Tokyo, Japan, February 20, 2026. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo

Japan and South Korea expressed concern on Saturday about the rapid declines in their currencies, saying they were ready to act against excessive foreign-exchange volatility.

Finance Ministers Satsuki Katayama of Japan and Koo Yun-cheol of South Korea "expressed serious concern over the recent sharp depreciation of the Korean won and the Japanese yen," they said in a statement after their annual meeting in Tokyo.

The yen and won have slid as mounting tensions from the US-Israeli war on Iran have driven the dollar higher ⁠on safe-haven demand and ⁠battered the currencies of countries heavily reliant on imported oil.

"Furthermore, they reaffirmed that they will closely monitor foreign exchange markets and continue to take appropriate actions against excessive volatility and disorderly movements in exchange rates," the statement said.

The yen touched its lowest in 20 ⁠months on Friday and is near the line of 160.00 to the dollar that many in the market think might prompt Japan to intervene to support the currency. The won breached a psychological barrier of 1,500 per dollar this month for the first time since March 2009.

Tokyo and Seoul shared the view that significant volatility had emerged in financial markets, including foreign exchange, Katayama told a press conference after the meeting.

"The Japanese government ⁠is ⁠fully prepared to respond at any time, bearing in mind the impact that currency moves may have on people's livelihoods amid surging oil prices, and I believe both sides share that understanding," she said.

Katayama regularly says Japan is ready to act regarding yen moves, although some policymakers privately say that intervening to prop up the yen now could prove futile, as the flood of dollar demand will only intensify if the war persists.

Business

BP Wins US Approval for Kaskida Project in Gulf of Mexico

FILE PHOTO: 3D-printed oil pump jacks and the British Petroleum (BP) logo appear in this illustration taken March 2, 2026. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: 3D-printed oil pump jacks and the British Petroleum (BP) logo appear in this illustration taken March 2, 2026. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
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BP Wins US Approval for Kaskida Project in Gulf of Mexico

FILE PHOTO: 3D-printed oil pump jacks and the British Petroleum (BP) logo appear in this illustration taken March 2, 2026. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: 3D-printed oil pump jacks and the British Petroleum (BP) logo appear in this illustration taken March 2, 2026. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

British energy major BP has received approval from the Trump administration to advance its Kaskida project in the Gulf of Mexico, a company spokesperson told Reuters in an emailed statement late ⁠on Friday.

The $5 billion ⁠investment would unlock 10 billion barrels of resources that BP has discovered in the Paleogene fields of the US Gulf, the spokesperson said.

The US Department of ⁠the Interior's approval of Kaskida follows a year-long review of the company's development plan, the statement said, according to Reuters.

Bloomberg News first reported on Friday that the Kaskida project is scheduled to start crude production in 2029. The Kaskida project will follow BP’s 2023 start-up of the Argos project, which ⁠was ⁠its first platform launch in the US. Gulf since 2008 and the first since the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

The explosion of BP's Deepwater Horizon rig in April 2010 killed 11 rig workers and caused $70 billion in damages in the largest oil spill in US history.