A resolution expressing support for the designation of June 11, 2026, as "Anti-Illicit Trade Awareness Day".

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 783 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 783

  Expressing support for the designation of June 11, 2026, as ``Anti-
                     Illicit Trade Awareness Day''.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 22, 2026

 Mr. Cassidy (for himself and Mr. Whitehouse) submitted the following 
             resolution; which was considered and agreed to

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

 
  Expressing support for the designation of June 11, 2026, as ``Anti-
                     Illicit Trade Awareness Day''.

Whereas, on June 11, 1782, Alexander Hamilton set a manifest requirement for 
        ships to list exports to address illegal smuggling and trade fraud as 
        part of his broader efforts to protect the economy of the United States 
        against illicit trade;
Whereas illicit trade--

    (1) consists not only of the movement of inherently illegal products, 
such as the trafficking of drugs, deadly fentanyl, fake medicines, 
firearms, illicit cigarettes, humans, illegal gold, endangered wildlife 
parts, cultural artifacts, counterfeit goods, and other contraband, but 
also the movement of products that are not inherently illicit but violate 
regulatory frameworks, such as diversion to unintended markets and 
commission of customs fraud, including tariff evasion, smuggling, 
misclassification, undervaluation, transshipment to disguise the true 
country of origin, and contravention of labeling, safety, and handling 
requirements;

    (2) is not currently recognized in all of its various forms, nor in its 
pervasiveness and severity;

    (3) is a multi-trillion-dollar global illegal economy that has numerous 
threat-multiplying effects, supports and expands criminalized markets, and 
corrodes the rule of law, good governance, and the integrity of global 
supply chains;

    (4) poses a significant national security threat as one of the most 
prominent and pernicious forms of transnational crimes facing the United 
States and allies of the United States given its detrimental impact on the 
competitiveness of the United States, legitimate markets, public trust, and 
the health and safety of citizens and its financing of criminal 
enterprises;

    (5) fuels corruption and money laundering (including trade-based money 
laundering) that finance greater crime convergence, insecurity, 
instability, and violence in all corners of the globe;

    (6) contributes to human trafficking, forced labor, modern slavery, 
child sextortion, and exploitation through physical intimidation, coercion, 
deception, or fraud;

    (7) is significantly facilitated by the proliferation of unregulated 
free trade zones that act as hubs of illicit trade and put the economic and 
physical security of the communities within which they operate at great 
risk;

    (8) is leveraged by maligned state actors who thwart the national 
interests of the United States and allies of the United States by infusing 
markets with dangerous illicit products such as fentanyl and use proceeds 
from such illicit trade to destabilize the developed world, fund violent 
conflicts, and enable insecure commerce streams to thrive; and

    (9) is becoming more pervasive as global connectivity and supply chains 
expand and Belt and Road Initiative infrastructure projects increase in 
number and scale;

Whereas recognizing illicit trade nationally is consistent with the ``America 
        First Trade Policy'' of the administration of President Donald J. Trump 
        and will highlight and support the work of the cross-agency Trade Fraud 
        Task Force and Homeland Security Task Forces of the Department of 
        Justice and the Department of Homeland Security;
Whereas trade fraud deprives the Federal Government of billions of dollars 
        annually, and a single transshipment investigation in 2025 uncovered 
        more than $400,000,000 in duty evasion;
Whereas the International Coalition Against Illicit Economies has estimated that 
        the global illegal economy may be 1 of the top 5 economies in the world, 
        behind the gross domestic product economies of the United States, at 
        $31,800,000,000,000, and China, at $18,700,000,000,000, with a projected 
        economic value of between $3,000,000,000,000 and $5,000,000,000,000;
Whereas the International Monetary Fund and the United Nations have also 
        estimated that money laundered annually from illicit economic trade is 
        between 2 and 5 percent of global gross domestic product, or up to 
        $6,000,000,000,000, as of 2025;
Whereas numerous international organizations recognize that the global illicit 
        drug trade generates hundreds of billions of dollars per year;
Whereas the 2024 Global Report of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 
        noted a 25 percent increase in the number of trafficked victims in 2023 
        from 2022 data, and the Department of State estimates that at least 
        27,000,000 people were exploited for labor, services, and sexual slavery 
        in 2024;
Whereas the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has 
        highlighted the global trade in counterfeit and pirated products at 
        approximately $467,000,000,000, or 2.3 percent of total global imports;
Whereas INTERPOL and the United Nations Environment Programme have estimated the 
        cost from an array of environmental crimes at more than $250,000,000,000 
        annually;
Whereas the World Health Organization estimated the size of the global illicit 
        cigarette market to be 11.6 percent of the global cigarette market in 
        2024 (or 657,000,000,000 cigarettes per year and approximately 
        $40,500,000,000 in lost revenue globally);
Whereas the Hubs of Illicit Trade Project at George Mason University has noted 
        how criminals, counterfeiters, bad actors, illicit threat networks, and 
        money launderers are reaping hundreds of billions of dollars in profit 
        every year from criminality across critical hubs of illicit trade, 
        global supply chains, and the digital world; and
Whereas public-private partnerships, public education, and general awareness of 
        illicit trade are critically needed--

    (1) to recognize the many forms of illicit trade;

    (2) to understand the global scale and detrimental impacts of illicit 
trade on the United States and the international community;

    (3) to encourage the public to report incidences of illicit trade; and

    (4) to arm the Federal Government with the tools, legal authorities, 
and financial resources necessary to investigate, disrupt, and dismantle 
transnational illicit networks and their complicit enablers: Now, 
therefore, be it

    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) expresses support for the designation of June 11, 2026, 
        as ``Anti-Illicit Trade Awareness Day'' to combat illicit trade 
        in all criminal manifestations every day thereafter in the 
        calendar year;
            (2) supports the elevation of illicit trade and related 
        illicit finance to national security priorities and the full 
        integration of countering such illicit trade into the national 
        security strategies of the United States to enhance this multi-
        dimensional criminal threat through coordinated executive 
        agency actions;
            (3) supports financial intelligence sharing on trade-based 
        money laundering, integrated intelligence fusion centers to 
        more comprehensively combat illicit trade, and a sustained 
        global network of trade transparency units to combat cross-
        border flows of illicit goods and illicit financial flows; and
            (4) continues to advance coordinated whole-of-government 
        and whole-of-society approaches to combating illicit trade.
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