PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Apr 3, 2025
Containing and Limiting the Extensive Abuses Noticed in Free Trade Zones Act of 2025 or the CLEAN FTZ Act of 2025
This bill creates a system to classify countries based on compliance with international standards within their free trade zones and establishes related penalties. (Free trade zones are designated areas, typically located at or near ports, that contain production facilities and related infrastructure. Generally, these zones are treated as being outside the customs territory despite being physically located inside the geographic boundaries of countries.)
Specifically, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) must identify, publish, and update a list of non-U.S. free trade zones that includes the identity, location, and administrators of each zone.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
Upon publication of the list of zones, CBP must then publish a classification of the countries in which those zones are located into four tiers based on specified standards (e.g., complying with international standards and countering illicit international trade). CBP must notify the government of each country of the tier to which the country was classified and periodically review the tier classification.
The bill directs CBP to take additional actions with respect to countries classified as tier II, III, or IV, such as creating a hotline for reporting instances of illicit international trade.
The bill also establishes related penalties, such as authorizing the President to impose property- and visa-blocking sanctions on any foreign person that has facilitated or supported illicit international trade within a zone located in a country classified as tier II, III, or IV.
People & committees
Sen. Cassidy, Bill [R-LA] · R–LA
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Jun 9, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze S.1291 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine S.1291 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine S.1291 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine S.1291 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.