This bill focuses on creating a plan to better use Trade Transparency Units, which help track and stop money laundering across borders. It aims to improve cooperation between U.S. agencies and foreign customs to make trade safer.
Trade Transparency Unit Strategy Act This bill requires a strategy and report related to the expansion of trade transparency units. Trade transparency units examine trade anomalies and financial irregularities associated with trade-based money laundering, customs fraud, contraband smuggling, and tax evasion. Specifically, the Department of Homeland Security must coordinate with the Departments of State, Commerce, and the Treasury to submit a strategy to Congress. This strategy must (1) expand information sharing between U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Homeland Security Investigations of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, appropriate elements of the Department of Commerce, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the Department of the Treasury, and appropriate counterparts of foreign customs agencies through trade transparency units; and (2) improve intra-agency, interagency, and other multilateral information sharing with respect to these units. The Government Accountability Office must submit a report to Congress that includes an assessment of the strategy.