Customs rewrites tariff math: last sale now sets import duty base
S. 3841 — Last Sale Valuation Act of 2026 · Filed by Bill Cassidy (R-LA) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Feb 11, 2026 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill changes how U.S. Customs calculates the value of imported goods for tariff purposes. Instead of using the price from any sale in the import chain, it requires use of the price from the final sale that brings the merchandise into the U.S. — the 'last sale' to a U.S. buyer. It also clarifies that U.S. Customs can access books and records to verify these adjustments. The effect is to shift the valuation baseline from intermediate transactions to the final U.S.-bound sale.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative effect is to change the rule for determining the transaction value of imported merchandise under customs law. It is a technical amendment to tariff administration, not a broad trade policy or consumer protection measure. The change favors the 'last sale' standard over prior-chain pricing.
What the text implies
- Importers and exporters may restructure supply chains to exploit the last-sale rule — moving pricing to intermediate entities or using transfer-pricing strategies to lower the final U.S. sale price, potentially reducing tariff revenue.
- The bill does not specify how 'last sale' applies to complex transactions (e.g., consignment, agency sales, or sales where title passes before physical entry). Ambiguity may invite litigation and inconsistent Customs rulings.
- Domestic producers competing with imports may face lower effective tariff rates on foreign goods if last-sale prices are systematically lower than prior-chain prices, shifting competitive advantage to importers.
- The audit-access clarification (subsection h(5)) may increase Customs' enforcement burden if importers dispute valuations; the bill does not fund additional Customs personnel or IT systems.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill may lower tariffs on some goods (if last-sale prices are lower than earlier-chain prices), benefiting consumers through lower import costs. However, it may raise tariffs on others (if last-sale prices are higher), and the net effect on consumer prices depends on import patterns and pricing strategies that are not transparent from the bill text alone. The clarification of Customs' audit authority is a transparency gain, but the valuation shift itself creates winners and losers without a
Who stands to gain
- import/export companies and freight forwarders (lower tariff exposure if last-sale prices are lower)
- large retailers and distributors (ability to negotiate lower last-sale prices with foreign suppliers
- foreign exporters (potential tariff reduction if last-sale pricing is lower than prior-chain pricing
Named in the bill
U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Tariff Act of 1930, Section 402 (customs valuation), importers, exporters, foreign sellers
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Democrats.
- Feb 11, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Feb 11, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Finance · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
14 lobbying clients named this bill on 15 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Mar 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $53,250,259 in lobbying spend. A filing names 11 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 94% of bills with at least one filing.
Bill Cassidy, the sponsor, reported $1,329,254 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle. $5,000 of that came from 1 PAC tied to these lobbying clients.
- Chamber of Commerce of the U.S.A. — $36,700,000 on 2 filings
- Business Roundtable Inc — $6,950,000 on 1 filing
- Koch Government Affairs, LLC — $2,760,000 on 1 filing
- Walmart Inc — $2,060,000 on 1 filing
- Astrazeneca Pharmaceuticals Lp — $1,680,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (965 characters) on Sep 7, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,398 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Mar 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-23.
“Customs rewrites tariff math: last sale now sets import duty base” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/s3841 Report an error
The week in bills
One email, Sunday: what Congress passed, what it changed, and who paid.
One link arrives to confirm the address. It is used for this email and nothing else, and every issue carries an unsubscribe link.