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CIVIC HERALD
HR 8744 · 119th Congress · HouseIn committee

TREE Act

In plain language: Starting in 2029, businesses will be prohibited from importing, manufacturing, or selling goods in the United States that are produced on land where forests were cleared or degraded. Companies handling cattle, cocoa, palm oil, rubber, soy, or wood will have to submit verifiable documentation proving their supply chains are deforestation-free, including geographic coordinates for products from higher-risk regions. Violators face product seizures, temporary bans on federal contracts, and fines up to 4 percent of their annual U.S. revenue, with half of collected penalty funds used to help developing countries manage and protect forests.

Provisional: our plain-language summary, pending review.

Provisionalunreviewed: impact, issue tags, provisions, stakeholders, summary
People affected—The bill text regulates commercial operators, traders, and importers across multiple broad commodity sectors, but does not provide specific estimates of the number of individuals or entities affected.
Fiscal magnitude—no CBO estimate published
Reach76provisional · pending reviewrigor: heuristic llm
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Issues

What this bill touches.

Aid & alliances+40Pollution & development+60Greenhouse-gas policy+45Trade & tariffs−55

The sign shows the bill's direction on each issue (+ toward, − away); the number is its magnitude. Color never encodes good or bad, and never party.

Who it affects

Who it helps · who it burdens.

Who it helps

  • Foreign countries categorized as high-risk (Level I) for deforestationReceive preference from the Department of State when financial assistance related to deforestation and forest degradation is awarded (Sec. 5(a)).provisional
  • Underdeveloped countriesReceive dedicated financial assistance for deforestation and forest-degradation management funded by 50 percent of civil penalties collected under the Act (Sec. 5(b)).provisional

Who it burdens

  • Importers and commercial traders of covered commoditiesProhibited from importing, manufacturing, selling, or advertising goods tied to deforestation in interstate commerce, and required to submit detailed due diligence statements and supply chain verification to Customs and Border Protection (Sec. 2(a), Sec. 3(a)-(b)). Violators face product confiscation, civil penalties up to 4 percent of annual U.S. revenue, and bans on federal contracts or importing (Sec. 3(c)).provisional
  • U.S. Customs and Border ProtectionMust establish due diligence filing systems, conduct mandatory inspection minimums (1% to 9% of goods depending on country risk level), and enforce import bans on deforestation goods (Sec. 3(a), Sec. 3(d)).provisional
  • Office of the United States Trade RepresentativeRequired to conduct biennial assessments to categorize every foreign country and region into three deforestation risk tiers and engage with high-risk nations (Sec. 4(a)-(c)).provisional

Who backs it

  • Violators of deforestation import and trade rulesPay civil penalties of up to 4 percent of annual U.S. revenue for violating the Act, half of which is used to finance deforestation management assistance in underdeveloped countries (Sec. 3(c)(1)(A), Sec. 5(b)).provisional

Dollar-level funding (FEC sector totals) is coming in a later phase.

What it does

The provisions, in plain language.

  1. Beginning January 1, 2029, prohibits importing, manufacturing, selling, trading, or advertising in interstate commerce any goods linked to deforestation or forest degradation that occurred on or after December 31, 2020.

    Sec. 2(a)provisional

  2. Requires importers of covered commodities—including cattle, cocoa, palm oil, rubber, soy, and wood—to provide Customs and Border Protection with due diligence statements detailing supply chains, origin coordinates for higher-risk countries, and verifiable proof that goods are deforestation-free.

    Sec. 3(a)-(b)provisional

  3. Subjects violators to confiscation of deforestation goods, civil fines up to 4 percent of their prior-year U.S. revenue, and up to a 12-month ban on federal contracts, grants, and funding.

    Sec. 3(c)(1)-(2)provisional

  4. Requires Customs and Border Protection, beginning December 31, 2029, to inspect at least 9 percent of goods from high-risk countries, 3 percent from moderate-risk countries, and 1 percent from low-risk countries for deforestation goods.

    Sec. 3(d)provisional

  5. Directs the United States Trade Representative to assess and categorize all foreign countries and regions every two years into low-, moderate-, or high-risk tiers based on deforestation rates and local forest protection laws.

    Sec. 4(a)-(d)provisional

  6. Requires the Department of the Treasury to dedicate half of all collected civil penalties to provide deforestation management assistance to underdeveloped countries.

    Sec. 5(b)provisional

How your members of Congress line up

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Timeline

How it moved.

  1. May 12, 2026Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committees on Foreign Affairs, and Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
  2. May 12, 2026Introduced in House
  3. May 12, 2026Introduced in House

The original text

Read it for yourself.

Read the original text →

Sources & provenance

Congress.govrefreshed 17 days ago

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