Washington—The Trump administration on Thursday flagged more
than 40 US trading partners as countries at risk of facilitating the evasion of
tariffs imposed on Chinese goods by diverting merchandise through third
countries.
In a report released by the White House Office of Trade and
Manufacturing Policy, the US government warned of so-called “illegal
transshipment,” a practice in which Chinese products are sent to other
countries to alter their origin or trade route and subsequently enter the
United States with lower tariffs.
Among the identified partners are Mexico, Canada, the
European Union, India, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, and Singapore, among
others. The document maintains that some of these economies present a high risk
due to their trade ties with China or the advantages they offer for accessing
the US market.
Peter Navarro, White House trade advisor, stated that for
years China has used third countries to facilitate the entry of its products
into the U.S. market and described this practice as a large-scale tariff
avoidance network.
As part of the strategy to combat these operations, the
Trump administration announced it will use artificial intelligence tools to
analyze international trade data, shipping routes, and merchandise
characteristics in order to identify potential discrepancies and detect
transshipment operations.