It turned out that all the efforts put into imposing tariffs on China after such a long time were in vain. The White House has once again started complaining, this time accusing various countries around the world of being responsible for this situation.
According to a report by the Financial Times on August 14, the White House accused more than 40 countries, including Canada, Mexico, and Japan, of helping Beijing by directing trade through the United States to countries where import tariffs are lower than in China, thereby avoiding US tariffs without legal means.
The White House claimed in a report titled "Deception Scheme of Great Restructuring" that these countries, along with the EU, helped circumvent trade tariffs worth around $60 billion. The report also cited other U.S. government and private sector reports suggesting that cross-border trade volume is estimated between $400 billion to $3 trillion.
The head of the White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy who released this report, Peter Navarro, said that since President Trump first imposed additional tariffs on China in 2018, China has been engaging in "extremely complex" methods of transshipment trade.
This practice has continued until today, as the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on various countries last year led to differences in tax rates between countries, thereby stimulating trade diversion.
To this end, Navarro stated that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection is beginning to use an artificial intelligence system called “Detective Border” to more accurately determine the composition of exported goods, ensuring proper labeling when imposing tariffs. He said that this measure will bring billions of dollars in tariff revenues to the U.S. Treasury and create “thousands of additional jobs for Americans.”
Since Trump introduced the global "Liberation Day" tariffs last year, the U.S. Trade Representative Office has included provisions to reduce transshipment trade in many trade agreements reached with various countries.
However, the U.S. Trade Representative Office is still developing the necessary ‘origin rules’ in order to determine where products are produced, and thus to determine the appropriate tariff levels.
The White House report states that other countries that face higher tariffs from the United States are also following China’s model of reselling goods. Navarro said, “As we impose higher tariffs on other countries, India, Vietnam, and others will also try to do the same.”
Navarro warned countries not to try to circumvent U.S. tariffs.
Regarding this, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in the United States stated, "There is no winner in a trade war." China opposes the US tariffs and also condemns the US use of state power to suppress Chinese companies.
Spokesperson added that "Any unilateral action or agreement involving cross-border transport of goods shall not target third parties or harm the interests of third parties."
