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U.S. Customs Seizes Counterfeit Goods Again! Which Products Are Most Likely to Be Inspected? In-Depth Analysis of 2025 CBP Seizure Data

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Preface

In fiscal year 2025, CBP seized nearly 79 million counterfeit goods, primarily including apparel, consumer electronics, toys, and pharmaceuticals.

On December 10, 2025, local time, U.S. Customs seized three batches of counterfeit jewelry from Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, China. If these goods were genuine, their total manufacturer's suggested retail price would exceed $18.6 million.

With CBP's enforcement efforts unprecedentedly strengthened, which products will be inspected? Which have high inspection rates?

This article will reveal which products are at the forefront of customs supervision through an in-depth analysis of the latest data.


I. Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) "Blacklist"

Combating counterfeit and substandard products and those infringing intellectual property rights is a traditional focus of CBP.

On December 10, 2025, local time, officials from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Louisville office seized three batches of counterfeit jewelry from Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, China on December 5 and 8. If these goods were all genuine, their total manufacturer's suggested retail price would exceed $18.6 million.

The first two batches of goods arrived from Hong Kong on December 5, with one batch sent to a residence in Staten Island, New York, and another to Irving, Texas.

Law enforcement officers inspected the first package and found 400 Cartier watches, 26 Moncler hats, and 30 Chrome Hearts hats.

In the second package, law enforcement officers found 8 Cartier watches and 13 Audemars Piguet watches.

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On December 8, law enforcement officers inspected a package from Taiwan and found 80 Rolex Cosmograph watches and 80 Rolex Day-Date watches. The package's destination was Houston.

These items were seized because they bore the protected trademarks of Cartier, Audemars Piguet, Moncler, Chrome Hearts, and Rolex. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection Centers of Excellence and Expertise determined that all these items were counterfeit products.

Prior to this, CBP officials seized a batch of counterfeit goods totaling 17,000 items on October 29, which bore protected trademarks and copyrights including Despicable Me, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, Hello Kitty, Labubu, Kuromi, Mario, Mickey Mouse, and Pikachu.

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SS Tip:

If imported goods bear infringing trademarks or copyrights, and such trademarks or copyrights have been registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office or the U.S. Copyright Office and filed with Customs and Border Protection through the electronic recordation procedure, then Customs and Border Protection has the authority to detain, seize, forfeit, and ultimately destroy the goods.

In addition to the above goods, based on counterfeit product seizure data released by CBP, we have summarized the following product categories that have become major areas of seizure due to their high profit margins and high market demand.

Rank
Product CategoryPercentage of SeizuresMain Reasons for Seizure
1
Apparel & Accessories22%Largest counterfeit category, huge profit margins
2Consumer Electronics18%High-value, high-demand products such as phones and headphones
3Footwear10%Rampant counterfeits of well-known sports brands
4Watches & Jewelry10%"Stronghold" of luxury goods counterfeiting
5

Pharmaceuticals & Personal Care

8%Involves public health and safety, major area of patent infringement
6Handbags & Wallets7%Luxury brand counterfeits, high value per seizure
7Optical Media5%Games, DVDs, etc., easy to copy and distribute
8Computers & Electronic Accessories3%Involves national defense security, highly focused by CBP
9Counterfeit Labels & Tags2%Upstream of counterfeit supply chain, used to forge various goods

The above categories primarily target brand counterfeiting and patent infringement. If your product falls into the above categories and involves well-known brands (whether authorized or not), or is highly similar to existing patents in design or technology, then it has an extremely high risk of IPR inspection.


II. UFLPA "High-Voltage Line"

UFLPA stands for: Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.

Since its enactment, UFLPA has become one of CBP's most deterrent enforcement tools.

Its core logic is "presumption of guilt," meaning that any goods wholly or partially manufactured in Xinjiang, or produced by companies on the UFLPA Entity List, are presumed to be products of forced labor and prohibited from entry, unless importers can provide "clear and convincing" evidence to rebut.

On January 14, 2025, DHS announced the addition of 37 entities to the UFLPA Entity List, the largest expansion of the list to date. The newly added entities include a major supplier of critical minerals and one of the world's largest textile manufacturers, both of which the U.S. believes recruit workers from specific regions. This addition brings the total number of entities on the UFLPA Entity List to 144.

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Original URL: https://www.dhs.gov/uflpa-entity-list

Official CBP data shows that the following industries are absolute priorities for UFLPA enforcement:

RankIndustry CategoryTotal DetentionsMain Products Involved and Reasons
1
Automotive & Aerospace5,980Complex supply chains, involving multiple raw materials of high UFLPA concern
2Electronics5,406Involves high-risk materials such as polysilicon (solar panels) and lithium batteries
3Apparel, Footwear & Textiles2,522Original focus of UFLPA, mainly targeting cotton and cotton products
4Industrial & Manufacturing Materials1,371Contains various basic raw materials such as aluminum, steel, and PVC
5Consumer Goods & Mass Merchandise875Wide range, involving various daily consumer goods

This list focuses on supply chain compliance.

Unlike IPR inspections, UFLPA inspections are unrelated to brands but closely related to the source of raw materials and production processes of products.

Particularly noteworthy is that in August 2025, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security added steel, copper, lithium, caustic soda, and jujubes as high-priority UFLPA enforcement goods, meaning that UFLPA's enforcement scope has expanded from traditional textiles and polysilicon to a broader range of industrial basic materials.


III. WRO "Global Alert" List

WRO does not target specific countries but rather any "company-product-country" combination suspected of forced labor worldwide. As of December 2025, CBP has 54 active WROs covering 14 countries and regions globally.

WRO Key Product Categories:

-  Cotton and its downstream products: Mainly targeting China, but other countries may also be involved.

-  Tomatoes and their downstream products: Mainly targeting China.

-  Apparel, clothing, and textiles: The latest case in November 2025 came from Firemount Group Ltd. in Mauritius.

-  Polysilicon: Key raw material for solar panels, mainly targeting China.

-  Seafood: For example, tuna and other seafood products from China's Dalian Ocean Fishing Company.

-  Bicycles and parts: WRO issued in September 2025 against Taiwan's Giant Group (Giant).

-  Others: Such as soda ash, calcium, human hair products, stevia, etc.

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In-Depth Case Analysis:

Taiwan Giant Bicycle WRO Incident

On September 24, 2025, CBP issued a WRO against bicycles, parts, and accessories produced in Taiwan by Taiwan's Giant Group (Giant), shocking global supply chains. This marked that "Made in Taiwan" is no longer a compliance "gold pass for exemption."

The reasons given by CBP were not based on nationality or region but specific forced labor allegations, including:

-  Abuse of vulnerability

-  Withholding of wages

-  Excessive overtime

The lesson from this case is: CBP's forced labor enforcement is based on behavior rather than geography. Enterprises from any country or region, as long as their labor practices meet the ILO's forced labor indicators, may become targets of WRO.

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