US Accuses 40 Nations of Enabling China to Evade Trump Tariffs
The White House released a comprehensive report Thursday claiming that more than 40 countries have assisted China in avoiding the high duties imposed by the Trump administration. The report says China routed billions of dollars in goods through countries that offer lower American import tariffs.
Names that appear in the report include Canada, India, Mexico, Japan and South Korea. The White House estimated that the practice of transshipping goods—moving cargo via an intermediary country before reaching the final destination—cost "American jobs and billions in revenue". Peter Navarro, a trade adviser, decried the tactic as a form of fraud cloaked in paperwork.
Chinese officials in Washington have dismissed the accusations, describing trade wars as having no winners and opposed any unilateral actions that target Chinese enterprises. Their spokesperson added that "any unilateral actions or agreements concerning transshipped goods must not target or harm the interests of third parties."
The White House said that between $30 bn and $300 bn in goods have traversed the described network. The use of AI tools is aimed at tracking and curtailing the covert movement of goods.
The report adds a new wedge to the tension between Washington and Beijing, coming just before President Trump is set to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in September. An earlier pause in tariffs, following talks in May 2025, has not stopped the exchange of sanctions, including limits on humanoid robots shipped to the U.S. and tighter Chinese restrictions on drone exports.
The White House’s findings mirror the severity of the 2025 tariffs that Trump introduced on dozens of American trading partners. The former Supreme Court strike down some rules, yet the Trump administration continues to employ alternative legal levers to enforce its trade policy.
