The White House said on Thursday that more than 40 countries had helped China bypass US tariffs by routing Chinese exports through countries facing lower American import duties.
The countries named in the report include Canada, India, Mexico, Japan and South Korea. According to the White House, they helped China evade tens of billions of dollars in tariffs, reports BBC.
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said the practice had cost “American jobs and billions in revenue”.
A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington said, “trade wars have no winners”. The spokesperson said China opposed US tariff measures and the use of state power to target Chinese companies.
The spokesperson added that “any unilateral actions or agreements concerning transshipped goods must not target or harm the interests of third parties.”
The US embassies of Canada, India, Mexico, Japan, South Korea and other trading partners named in the report have been contacted for comment.
The report comes amid a series of sanctions between the US and China and weeks before US President Donald Trump is due to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington.
Government and private sector estimates cited by the White House suggest between $30 billion (£22.2 billion) and roughly $300 billion worth of goods have been moved from countries with higher tariffs through those with lower rates.
The practice, known as transshipping, involves transferring cargo through another country while it is en route to its final destination.
The US accused China of “taking advantage” of the practice by routing goods through countries with lower duties.
The White House report said China had used third countries as stopovers and repackaged goods to conceal the true origin of products and secure lower tariffs. It described the practice as “fraud cloaked in paperwork”.
“What has changed in today’s Great Transshipment Scam is not merely the speed and scale of this modern form of smuggling, but the breadth, depth, and sophistication of the global Shadow Transshipment Network through which China’s tariff evasion now moves,” the White House wrote.
The report also said the US had deployed artificial intelligence (AI) tools to detect transshipment efforts.
The findings are expected to add to the key disputes between Washington and Beijing as Trump and Xi prepare to meet in the US in September.
Although the two sides paused most tariffs after talks in May 2025, Washington and Beijing have continued to impose sanctions on each other. These include restrictions on humanoid robots shipped to the US and tighter Chinese controls on drone exports.
In April 2025, Trump announced sweeping tariffs on dozens of US trading partners, based on his long-standing belief that tariffs would help increase American jobs and strengthen the US economy.
