Trade Community Wary Over Potential Federal Workforce Uncertainties

On the one hand, some trade members sound concerned that efforts to fire employees at partner government agencies could impact field operations. On the other hand, there are those saying the layoffs don't appear to be touching those in the field.

Complicating the situation is a Feb. 27 court decision by U.S. District Judge William Alsup, who determined that the recent firing of probationary employees in a move spearheaded by the Office of Personnel Management didn't follow federal procedure. That procedure is that individual federal agencies are responsible for any laying off of employees attached to their unit. Alsup's court decision calls for OPM to rescind its orders directing federal agencies to fire probationary employees.

However, this situation is still developing, and it's unclear how the agencies will respond to the court ruling. Affected agencies with trade-facing operations include the EPA, USDA and the Fish and Wildlife Service, according to court documents.

Indeed, the uncertainty over how recent actions to overhaul the federal government will affect trade activities may be driving trade groups to keep watch over the ever-evolving situation.

Some trade members have heard of probationary USDA inspectors being let go, although it's unclear whether those inspectors covered domestic or import activities.

The American Association of Exporters and Importers "will continue to monitor. If you are experiencing trade disruptions due to staffing shortages, please share those experiences. AAEI members can reach out to Government Affairs Manager Mitchell Hart with questions or concerns," the group said in a LinkedIn post.

But attorney Benjamin England of FDA Imports thinks that those who were fired at PGAs were generally not part of trade operations. If they were involved in exports or imports, they might have been probationary employees, he said.

"Most of the impact is going to be [at] headquarters. It won't be in the field -- multi-inspectors, multi-compliance officers in the field. They're still going to do inspections. "They're still going to be reviewing products that are manufactured in the United States and products that are imported," England said in a recent podcast. England worked at the FDA for 17 years and was involved in customs work at the agency.

Staffers within headquarters that could be affected by federal workforce reduction plans include those in higher policy positions, such as senior policy advisers, who are appointed and are not in career positions, England said.

Meanwhile, recent hires at the FDA -- and consequently those more vulnerable to being fired -- may have been those who review AI-enabled medical devices for hospital settings, according to England. Another group of recent hires include those who review petitions from companies expressing their intent to use chemicals in food.

However, these two groups recently may have had their firings rescinded, according to The Associated Press. The government also gets funding for these two groups from user fees, according to England.

"Those kinds of mass firings are not very useful, and it's largely because it's difficult to see deeply enough into the agency to know what the likely impact would be," England said.

Uncertainty over how the federal workforce will shape up in the coming year comes as special government employee Elon Musk tweeted last weekend that federal employees must provide OPM with five bullet points on what they did over the previous week. Failure to do so means that the worker is resigning, the tweet said. Musk and President Donald Trump later clarified that the employees would not get fired; however, according to a Feb. 28 Washington Post article, the OPM could direct federal agencies to compel employees to conduct weekly productivity reports to see if employees' job functions align with Trump's stated goals for the agencies.

Patrick Gallagher, executive director for the Marine Exchange of Puget Sound, said in a LinkedIn post that he heard that federal workers that oversee maritime regulation, safety and investment in Washington, including the Coast Guard, NOAA and CBP, were among the recipients of Musk's request for bullet points.

Gallagher didn't clarify who within CBP received the request, although he noted that within the maritime industry, there is "some impatience" with federal partners over issues such as ambiguous authority, delayed administrative processing and communications restrictions: "I recommend factoring these changes into your operations and supply chain," Gallagher said.