USTR: U.S. and U.K. Reach Agreement on Pharmaceuticals and Medical Technology

On December 1, 2025, the United States and United Kingdom announced a new agreement on pharmaceuticals, pharmaceutical ingredients, and medical technology. Under this arrangement, the U.S. would remove Section 232 tariffs on U.K.-sourced medical goods, pause any Section 301 investigations…

FDA: Agency Deploys Agentic AI Capabilities for Staff Use

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced the rollout of agency-wide agentic AI tools designed to support employees with complex, multi-step tasks. These systems build on the FDA’s earlier deployment of its LLM-based tool, Elsa—currently used voluntarily by a majority…

Year-End Insights Webinar 2: What’s Changing & What to Watch

Trade Trends & Hot Topics for 2026! In this webinar Star USA’s Michael D. Easton talks about how to use strategic thinking to navigate today’s challenges. He identifies several of the problems he’s faced this year and describes how he…

Year-End Insights Webinar 1: What We Learned in 2025

Key Changes, Shifts & Surprises in Trade This Year! How have you survived 2025 and how do you plan to weather 2026? In this webinar Star USA’s president, Michael D. Easton, was joined by Lee Mersek, president of Global Resilience…

USMCA: Unlocking the Benefits of Other FTAs

Unlocking the Benefits of FTAs! With all of the changes happening in international trade, it’s important to know how free trade agreements (FTAs) work and how to use them correctly! In this webinar Star USA’s Michael D. Easton talks about…

EEI Filings: When, How, & Who’s Responsible

What to include, when they’re needed, and who does what? It’s easy for EEI to be a low priority for freight forwarders, shippers, and customs brokers, but you’re still responsible for filing it! In this webinar Michael D. Easton from…

Is Your Freight Protected? Understanding Cargo Insurance with TRG

What the heck is cargo insurance and who needs it? Rising tariffs impact many things you may not have considered, including your Customs bonds and cargo insurance! In this webinar Travis Smith and Meredith Lambert from Trade Risk Guaranty and…

CBP: Section 321 Enforcement Update in ACE to Block Ineligible De Minimis Shipments

CBP is enhancing Section 321 enforcement within ACE to ensure compliance with the $800 de minimis threshold. Starting June 26, the update will be deployed to the CERT environment. This enhancement will prevent the release of shipments claiming de minimis…

OFAC: GVA Capital Fined $216M for Russia Sanctions Violations

The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a penalty notice for almost $216M on GVA Capital Ltd. They’re a venture capital firm in California. This is for violating the Russia sanctions and failing to comply with a subpoena. Read More

Justice: DOJ Declines to Prosecute PE Firm After Voluntary Disclosure of Export Violations

The United States Department of Justice declined to prosecute a private equity firm after they discovered criminal violations of export laws that one of their acquired companies had committed and disclosed them voluntarily. Read More

DOJ: Crypto Exec Indicted for Laundering Millions Through U.S. Banks

The United States Department of Justice unsealed an indictment against Iurii Gugnin, owner of cryptocurrency company Evita, for funneling > $500 million of payments through US banks / crypto exchanges while hiding the source and purpose of the transactions. Read…

IEEPA: Tariffs Case Heads to Full Appeals Court

In an IEEPA update, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit granted the motion to continue collecting IEEPA fentanyl and reciprocal tariffs while the appeal is ongoing. They also said that since this is such an important case, they’re…