No Spin, Live on Stage
Recorded live at VMA26 in Norfolk, Pete Mento and Cindy Allen bring the Pete and Cindy Show to the conference stage for a candid conversation about tariffs, refunds, enforcement, and what importers should actually do next. Taking place under VMA26’s theme, “Anchored: Grounded in Strategy. Ready for What’s Next,” the session matched the moment: shipping, port, logistics, and trade leaders working through exactly these questions together.
Is the Tariff Strategy Working?
Pete and Cindy open by unpacking Sections 301, 232, 122, and 338 as tools of leverage, revenue, national security, and industrial policy, then ask the harder question: is the current tariff strategy actually producing the reshoring results it promised? Their argument throughout is that tariff policy, refunds, data collection, and enforcement can no longer be treated as separate issues.
Refunds Are Real, But Time-Sensitive
Following the Supreme Court’s 2026 ruling, the discussion turns practical with IEEPA refunds. Pete and Cindy walk through reviewing affected entries, confirming ACH refund information, monitoring liquidation status, and bringing in trade counsel before money gets left on the table. Drawback, first sale, reconciliation, and foreign-trade zones also come up as strategies worth evaluating with qualified advisers.
An Enforcement Environment Running on Better Data
The warning is direct: CBP, DOJ, BIS, and other agencies are using stronger data, deeper supply-chain visibility, and faster analytics in an increasingly enforcement-first environment. Expect faster, more targeted scrutiny across both imports and exports.
Advanced Data Isn’t Just Compliance’s Problem
Pete and Cindy also dig into CBP’s advanced-data proposals, which touch foreign export documentation, invoices, classifications, values, certificates of origin, and business identifiers. These changes could reshape procurement, supplier contracts, freight forwarding, and carrier operations, not just the compliance department. The public comment period on CBP’s ANPRM closes December 1, 2026.
Hope Is Not a Strategy
That line captures the entire session. Their advice: engage suppliers now, strengthen cooperation and data-sharing clauses in contracts, evaluate brokers and forwarders on compliance programs rather than price alone, and invest in people, systems, and lawful duty-mitigation tools. The importer of record remains ultimately responsible either way.
Ready to Go Deeper?
Want to build a tariff strategy that doesn’t depend on hope? Explore GTC’s course offerings on Trade Action Strategies, Importing Procedures, and Import Compliance Training to get ahead of CBP’s advanced-data proposals before the comment period closes.
Transcript
Machne Operated
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