Executive Order on Counterfeits May Challenge Trade Community 

President Donald Trump's recent executive order to strengthen e-commerce enforcement may pose hurdles to trade professionals, experts told us. The EO (see 2001310061) is ambiguous, and how Customs and Border Protection plans to heed the order's call to restrict access to importer of record numbers based on customs and intellectual property rights violations is unclear, said Sandler Travis lawyer Paula Connelly in an interview. The EO says customs brokers and express shippers would be responsible for determining if a foreign importer is trying to get around a past debarment, for instance, by changing the company's name. National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America President Amy Magnus said brokers aren't investigators, but “there’s going to be an expectation that we’re going to be more involved in the vetting and sort of screening of all parties.” The White House didn't comment Tuesday.