White House says more than 40 countries helped China dodge US tariffs

The White House has accused more than 40 countries of helping China sidestep US tariffs by routing exports through nations with lower import duties. In a report released on Thursday, it named Canada, India, Mexico, Japan and South Korea among the countries it said were involved. The allegation adds a new point of tension in the wider trade dispute between Washington and Beijing.

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White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said the practice had cost "American jobs and billions in revenue". The report said, according to government and private sector estimates, that between $30bn and roughly $300bn in goods had been moved from countries with higher tariffs through countries with lower rates. It described the practice as transshipping, meaning cargo is transferred through another country on the way to its final destination.

The White House said China had used third countries as stopovers and repackaged goods to hide their real origin in order to secure lower tariffs. It described the process as "fraud cloaked in paperwork" and said the scale and sophistication of the network had grown. The report also said the US had deployed artificial intelligence tools to detect transshipment efforts.

A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington said trade wars have no winners and opposed the use of state power to target Chinese companies. The findings matter because they come amid a broader wave of sanctions between the US and China and because they could sharpen negotiations over trade enforcement. The report is likely to add to the list of sticking points before a planned meeting in Washington in September between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

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It also raises questions for countries named in the report, which the White House says were used as part of a wider tariff-evasion route. Transshipment has long been a concern in trade enforcement because it can make it harder for customs authorities to determine the true origin of goods. In this case, the White House framed the issue as part of what it called a global shadow transshipment network.

The report did not provide a full public breakdown of the alleged routes or the specific products involved, but it said the practice had been used to move goods through countries facing lower duties. What remains unclear is how much of the alleged trade flow can be independently verified and whether the countries named will respond publicly to the claims. The White House said it has been using AI tools to identify suspected cases, suggesting more enforcement action could follow.

The issue is now set to remain part of the broader US-China trade agenda in the weeks before the planned leaders' meeting.

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