US flags dozens of trade partners as risks for aiding tariff evasion

WASHINGTON: The Trump administration flagged dozens of United States trading partners on Thursday (Aug 13) as potential risks in aiding Chinese tariff evasion, vowing to tap artificial intelligence to help detect illegal practices in the future.

Among those named are the European Union, alongside US neighbours Mexico and Canada. Others include India, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and Singapore.

The White House report takes aim at its longstanding concern surrounding "illegal transshipment", where goods could be sent through a third country that faces lower US tariffs to avoid paying higher levies imposed by President Donald Trump.

"For years, the great transshipment scam has let Communist China launder its exports through more than 40 countries," White House trade advisor Peter Navarro told reporters.

The US report released on Thursday pointed to "more than 40 countries associated with elevated illegal transshipment risk".

For some economies, transshipment risk is "embedded within broad legitimate trade flows," the report said.

Others were found to be more integrated with China-linked supply chains, while a third group had advantages such as preferential US access that make them "attractive opportunistic targets" for rerouting. Singapore was placed under the third group of trading partners.

Navarro added that the White House is working closely with US Customs and Border Protection on an AI-enabled "detective border" to help assess whether a shipment involves transshipped goods.

This system would tap information like shipment data, routing histories and other tools, the report said.

Experts have long noted supply chain diversions from China since Trump's first presidency, when Washington and Beijing engaged in a tariffs war around 2018.

Among those who benefited as businesses diversified their supply chains were countries like Vietnam, economists added.

Since returning to the White House last year, Trump has imposed sweeping tariffs on US trading partners, adding to existing duties that Chinese imports face.