israel and the United States are strengthening their cooperation in trade enforcement and the fight against economic crime with the signing of an agreement to establish a joint Trade Transparency Unit (TTU).
The agreement was signed during an official visit to Washington, D.C., by Kfir Hen, Director of the Israel Customs Directorate, as part of working meetings with senior officials from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
The establishment of the TTU is designed to facilitate the advanced exchange and analysis of import and export data between the two countries. The primary objective is to detect significant discrepancies in trade reports, which may indicate customs fraud, tax evasion, smuggling, terror financing, and Trade-Based Money Laundering (TBML).
The unit will operate by comparing bilateral trade data—cross-referencing export data from one country with the corresponding import data from the other—to identify inconsistencies in pricing, quantities, or the Harmonized System (HS) classification of goods.
The signing of the TTU agreement aligns with a broader trend of strengthening economic and regulatory ties between Israel and the United States. This move holds strategic importance, particularly in light of the growing volume of international trade and the increasing use of trade mechanisms for criminal and terrorist purposes.
The Customs Directorate noted that the implementation process for the joint mechanism, including team training and data transfer protocols, will begin in the coming months, leading up to the unit’s full operational activation.
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