YourVoice.Now Summary
Your MoneyCivil LibertiesCriminal Justice & Due ProcessCorporate BenefitsEnvironmentTransparency & AccountabilityAdds new ways to tax cheap or state-backed imports — shields American plants, raises some prices.
Your Money
The bill would make it easier and faster to put extra tariffs on imports. Importers pay the tariffs. Much of that cost usually shows up in retail prices.
Civil Liberties
One part of the bill would apply to trade cases opened since June 29, 2015. It would also apply to court cases and criminal cases with no final ruling yet.
Today importers can protest to Customs over how a shipment is billed after a tariff-dodging finding. The bill would end that step. A challenge in trade court would still be allowed.
Customs could demand records from anyone it reasonably suspects of dodging tariffs. If that person does not cooperate, Customs could draw conclusions against them.
Criminal Justice & Due Process
Officials could require importers to sign a statement that their goods are not covered by a tariff order. A false or missing statement could bring customs fines or federal criminal charges.
Corporate Benefits
Today a subsidy counts only if the exporting country pays it. The bill would also count help from a third country. One example is a Chinese subsidy to a plant in Vietnam. The exporting country must have helped make that subsidy happen.
A country that holds its money below true value could be treated as subsidizing its exporters. Trade officials would have to weigh that claim when a petition raises it.
When an industry files a second case within two years, officials must decide faster. The first ruling comes within 85 days in subsidy cases. In dumping cases it comes within 140 days. Only the company that filed may ask for more time.
Importers with no U.S. presence would have to keep American assets and a bond. These must cover the highest tariffs their goods could face. It starts 180 days after the bill becomes law. Firms in a Customs security program are exempt.
Environment
The bill lists twelve situations that let officials reject a foreign firm's reported costs. One covers countries that fail to enforce their environmental, labor, human rights, or property laws.
Transparency & Accountability
Trade officials would have to print the facts and reasoning behind each tariff-dodging decision. It would go in the Federal Register, the government's daily notice journal.
The confidential-record rules used in regular tariff cases would also cover Customs tariff-dodging cases. Company lawyers could review protected business records under strict limits. This starts 180 days after the bill becomes law.
Officials could not take unrequested input from anyone but the party that filed. That gap runs until they decide whether to open a tariff-dodging inquiry. Status questions would still be allowed.
More about this bill
Prices on some imported goods would likely rise under this bill. It would make it easier and faster to add extra tariffs on certain imports. Those are goods sold too cheaply here, or backed by a foreign government. Importers pay those tariffs, and much of that cost tends to reach the price you pay. American plants that compete with those imports would gain. The bill is not law yet. It was introduced in the House in February 2025. Three changes widen the net. Help from a third country would now count. A Chinese subsidy to a plant in Vietnam could bring tariffs on goods from Vietnam. A government that keeps its money cheap on purpose could also be treated as paying a subsidy. The bill also lists twelve situations that let officials reject a foreign firm's reported costs. Those include state-owned suppliers, export taxes, and countries that do not enforce their own labor or pollution laws. These cost rules would reach back to trade cases opened since June 29, 2015, including court cases that have not ended. Enforcement gets tighter. Importers based outside the country would have to hold American assets large enough to cover the tariffs they might owe. That starts 180 days after the bill becomes law. Fines run $50,000 for each violation when the goods are worth that much or more. Smaller shipments draw a fine of half their value. Officials could also make importers sign a statement that goods are not covered by a tariff order. A false statement could bring criminal charges. Importers would lose one appeal step in tariff-dodging cases. Rep. Beth Van Duyne of Texas introduced the bill with 30 co-sponsors from both parties.
Congressional Summary
Leveling the Playing Field 2.0 ActThis bill addresses unfair trade practices by making various changes to U.S. antidumping and countervailing duty laws. Antidumping laws provide relief to U.S industries and workers that are materially injured or threatened with injury due to imports of like products sold in the U.S. market at less than fair value, while countervailing duty laws provide such relief from imports of products subsidized by a foreign government or public entity.Specifically, the bill establishes a process for successive antidumping and countervailing duty investigations. Successive investigations may be concurrent (an ongoing investigation of the same product) or recently completed (not more than two years before the date of the initiation of the successive investigation). Further, the bill establishes a timeline for the Department of Commerce to issue determinations in successive investigations.Among other provisions, the bill authorizes Commerce toapply countervailing duty law to subsidies provided by a foreign government or public entity to a company operating in a different country,use another method for calculating the cost of production in specific circumstances, andrequire importers to certify that the imported merchandise is not subject to an antidumping or countervailing duty order.Additionally, the bill statutorily establishes procedures for Commerce to conduct circumvention inquiries, including by specifying the deadlines for preliminary and final determinations.The bill also provides statutory authority for Commerce to investigate currency undervaluation as a countervailable subsidy.
Legislative Subjects
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- House
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in House
- Action Date
- 2025-02-24
- Date Added
- 2026-05-09
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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