White House Calls Out Dozens Of Nations For Helping China Evade US Tariffs

The report, titled “The Great Transshipment Scam,” found more than 40 countries, ranging from Mexico to Israel, involved with what the report described as a “global Shadow Transshipment Network through which China’s tariff evasion now moves.”

The White House estimated between $19 billion to $26 billion in lost tax revenue per year from the practice, which routes goods through a third country to receive a lower U.S. tariff rate.

Exporters were able to disguise where a product came from by repackaging or relabeling the goods and performing limited assembly in another country before sending the product to the U.S., the White House found in its report.

“For years, the great transshipment scam has let communist China launder its exports,” White House trade adviser Peter Navarro told reporters Thursday.

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This is excellent work by @RealPNavarro and the Trump administration. The 'downside risk' to this illegal transshipment' (mostly from PRC) is low to non-existent. That needs to change – and requires direct pressure on PRC government (and host governments) – in addition to…

— Grant Newsham (@NewshamGrant) August 13, 2026

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Well, considering our MPs appear to be working for the CCP, I think it’s a pretty big deal.

— Cereus Blooms (@BloomsCereus) August 13, 2026

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If transshipment is being used to bypass tariffs, closing that loophole could become just as important as the tariffs themselves.

— X Farmer (@ojj_joj) August 14, 2026

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Following the imposition of Section 301 tariffs on China in 2018, the direct U.S. trade deficit with China fell in 2019 and 2020.

“After their imposition, Chinese exporters increasingly routed goods through third countries,” the report says, with goods that previously moved directly from China to the United States instead being shipped through jurisdictions where limited assembly, finishing, repackaging, relabeling or documentation changes could create the appearance of a different national origin.

“Over time, these practices contributed to the development of a global network of production hubs, logistics platforms, free-trade zones, bonded warehouses, processing corridors, and re-export centers,” the report said of the transshipment practice.

The report also estimates tariff-avoiding transshipment costs the U.S. Treasury between $19 billion and $26 billion in revenue annually.

“The Trump administration has taken steps to strengthen transshipment enforcement.”

“For years, the great transshipment scam has let communist China launder its exports,” Navarro said, according to The Associated Press.

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Back in 2018, we put historic tariffs on China to protect American workers. Almost immediately, China started looking for ways around them.

One of those ways? Transshipment.

The crudest form of transshipment is pretty simple: a high-tariff country like China ships its goods… pic.twitter.com/CfmMqzJLl7

— Peter Navarro (@RealPNavarro) August 13, 2026

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