Torres: We’ve all got tariff fatigue, including customs officials

MCALLEN, Texas – It is not just importers and customs brokers that are confused by the Trump Administration’s ever-changing policy on tariffs. U.S. Customs and Border Protection is also.

This is the view of Jorge Torres, president and founder of McAllen-based Interlink Trade Services. Torres has been a licensed customs broker for 30 years and has worked with maquiladora and customs brokerage operations for 35 years. 

“Everyone has tariff fatigue, and that includes customs,” Torres said.

Torres is in great demand these days as an expert on tariffs, appearing on national TV and global media outlets. Torres says uncertainty in tariff policies is hurting industry and investment in Mexico. 

In an in-depth interview with the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service, explained the mechanics of U.S. Customs processing tariff changes that have been posted on the federal registry. 

Editor’s Note: Here is a video recording of the interview:

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“These changes we are having with the tariffs are happening so quickly. For example, the executive order and federal registers, they come out, let’s say, for example, at 3:30 in the afternoon, and they’re to be effective the following day. Well, that information US Customs haas to take, interpret, make the (computer) programming changes, and then issue the guidance to the customs brokers,” Torres said.

“And then we take that guidance… our software providers have to take that and make the updates so they can take the information from the changes that customs made, and all that has to happen in the middle of the night. And then we have to come in, in the morning, make an update to our system, and then try to understand, learn what changes are being made. 

“In the meantime, we have our customers demanding that they want to cross their shipments. But there are changes going on, so we then ask them for additional information. So, that creates the problems that we’re having right now and the frustration, that’s why I’m saying, we all have tariff fatigue.”

Torres went into further depth.

“They (the Trump Administration) will issue the executive order and he tFederal Register notification. The Federal Register notifications are the official guidelines that the federal government publishes. And then that’s taken by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, for them to make the changes in their programs, internal programs, and then they have to give us the guidance on how to apply those changes,” Torres said.

“At the same time, parallel to that, our software providers have to update the software to take those changes from customs, and those changes are to be affected the following day.”

Torres said that in the old days, Customs & Border Protection were consulted during the decision-making process. 

“Customs would take part in those decisions, and they would have 60 to 90 days to implement them. Everyone had plenty of time to understand, to reprogram and do it correctly. Now it’s from one day to the other, so that creates a lot of confusion and a lot of delays and misinterpretations,” Torres said.

“Customs are in the same boat that we are. When we go to them for guidance, sometimes they don’t know the answers. It’s not that they don’t want to give us the answer. It’s legitimately that they don’t know. So they have to go back and get their internal attorneys and everyone to take a look at the new policy. Then they can give you an answer. Before it was like, well, we did it so we know what’s going on, so we’ll give you the answer.”

Privately, customs officials will agree with customs brokers that things are a mess, Torres said. “They are saying, geez, you know, they (the customs brokers) have a point. Maybe we didn’t read it right. So they have to go back.”

Torres has been in the customs brokerage industry for 30 years. 

“Sometimes they (Customs) come back and say, you know what, we misinterpreted this. We’re going to correct it. That never used to happen, especially with the government. So, that’s why they’re more sensitive now. And they’re more empathic (to the plight of customs brokers). They have more empathy to our industry, because they have told me we’re in the same boat as you are.”

Torres said RGV customs brokers have monthly meetings with Customs officials. He said they also have an email address they can write to for guidance.

“There’s an email address that they gave us to post all these tariff questions, and they receive them, and they take forever to answer. But it’s not that they don’t want to answer. They want to make sure that they give the right answer. And when we meet with the local customs people, they’re like, oh man, you have a point, whoops, let me go back to you.”

Part of the problem, Torres said, is some of the executive orders are ambiguous. 

“I don’t know who is writing those. I don’t know what level of people are writing those. Some of them are copy-paste, which have information from a prior executive order. It’s like, wait a minute, this doesn’t make sense. So, now, the Federal Register has to correct that, and then Customs has to correct that. So, it’s a correction process from the executive order.”

Torres said: “I have never seen it like this. In my 30 years experience in the brokerage industry this year has been very challenging. During the first Trump Administration, they implemented, in 2018, the Section 301 tariffs and the Section 232 tariffs. And we thought that was complicated. Well, we went through that, we understood it, and it was implemented, and we moved along. Now it’s that plus all these other tariffs, and they change one week and then the next week, and it’s retroactive, and there are exclusions. It is complicated.”

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