Analysts: U.S. Customs Glitch May Be “Strategic Smokescreen”

Analysts at the Institute for International Affairs say the U.S. Customs glitch may be much more than a software glitch. The so-called ‘glitch’ narrative may be a strategic smokescreen aimed not at fixing a faulty system, but at buying time during a major adjustment that puts global trade and capital flows at high risk. As Trump's tariff-heavy initiatives sent shockwaves through global supply chains, the sudden ‘glitch’ caused a pause in the processing of tariff data, which allowed key stakeholders - clearinghouses, freight forwarders, the U.S. Treasury Department, and Customs - to make a decision on any new tariff rates. Customs would have a chance to pause and re-pricing and repositioning before any new rates are implemented. This could also be a form of information disruption similar to the brief wartime fog strategy. By freezing the tracking of tariff exemptions and reducing transparency about who is exempted and who is not, it provides the US Executive and Treasury with some relatively quiet time (hours or days) to assess the market reaction and intervene if necessary, without news headlines exposing their actions. It may be useful to think of this as a kind of pre-emptive firewall against liquidity crises or geopolitical panics, rather than a system-level failure.