US Accuses 40+ Countries Including India of Helping China Avoid Trump Tariffs

The Trump administration has accused more than 40 countries of helping Chinese goods enter the United States through a network of false labelling and other practices aimed at avoiding US tariffs, claiming the activity is costing Washington tens of billions of dollars in annual revenue.

A White House report published on Thursday alleged that the countries were involved in a “shadow logistics network” that facilitates the movement of Chinese products into the US by disguising their origin. The Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy named the European Union, Mexico, Canada, India, Japan and South Korea among China’s main “enablers” in what it called the “Great Transshipment Scam”.

The report also identified Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Cambodia as countries playing “an important role” in the alleged network. According to Al Jazeera, the US report said manufacturing sectors hit hardest by the transshipments include electrical equipment, integrated circuits, aluminium products and motor components.

“Every dollar lost to this Great Transshipment Scam is a dollar stolen from American workers, manufacturers, and taxpayers,” the office headed by Trump appointee Peter Navarro said in the report.

China’s embassy in Washington, DC, did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside regular office hours. The countries named in the report had also not publicly responded to the allegations.

The White House said countries facilitating transshipments were being “put on notice” as US border authorities strengthen enforcement. It said officials were using artificial intelligence to combine shipment data with other information to identify suspected cases.

“The message to the world is simple. The age of untraceable illegal transshipment is over,” the trade office said.

“What once seemed like quiet paperwork manoeuvres – relabelling, repackaging, re-invoicing – has become a matter of economic sovereignty and national will.”

The allegations come as Trump continues to reshape US trade policy through tariffs and other protectionist measures. Since returning to the White House in January last year, Trump has introduced a series of measures aimed at protecting US industries and increasing pressure on trading partners.

In its latest trade move, the administration announced tariffs of 10-12.5 per cent on imports from dozens of countries accused of turning a blind eye to forced labour.

According to Al Jazeera, a group of 25 Democratic-led US states, including New York, California and Colorado, has challenged those tariffs in court. The states have argued that the measures are an attempt to bring back Trump’s broad “Liberation Day” tariffs, which the US Supreme Court struck down in February.

Amitendu Palit, a trade expert and professor at the National University of Singapore, said the latest White House report was part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to pressure other countries into providing greater access to their markets for US goods.

“The delegitimisation of liberation day tariffs have meant huge loss for the Trump administration: both in terms of the refunds that it has had to pay, as well as in credibility,” Palit told Al Jazeera.

“Therefore it is seeking out more and more ‘innovative’ forms of weaponising market access. This follows the earlier Section 301 tariffs imposed on various countries for not being able to limit use of forced labour.”

The latest allegations add to the Trump administration’s efforts to tighten tariff enforcement and prevent Chinese goods from entering the US market through third countries, Al Jazeera reported.