Trump Administration Cracks Down on Tariff Evasion, Targets Chinese Goods Transshipped Through Low-Tariff Intermediary Countries

According to foreign media reports, the White House recently released a report titled "The Great Transshipment Scam," which defines the practice of transshipping Chinese goods through low-tariff intermediary countries as a deliberate operation to conceal the true country of origin of the goods. The current administration's new round of crackdowns on tariff evasion may subsequently trigger wider disputes over the definition of "Made in China."

The current U.S. tariff policy has objectively prompted enterprises to adjust their production and shipping routes to avoid tariffs, increasing the complexity of trade law enforcement. The core difficulty facing this crackdown is clarifying the criteria for determining product origin against the backdrop of global supply chains. Once relevant rules are adjusted, they may disrupt the existing international trade order and affect U.S. trade relations with countries and regions including China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Most trade experts characterize the report not as a rigorous academic economic analysis, but as a political document that primarily serves the current administration's goals of strengthening tariff policies and tightening trade law enforcement.