Nearly 40 countries, including , have been accused by the of being part of a “” that allowed Chinese goods hit by high US tariffs to enter the American market after being routed through third countries with lower tariffs.
In the report titled “The Great Transhipment Scam”, US President adviser puts the value of potentially illegal transhipment at around $60 billion. The report says this resulted in tens of billions of dollars in lost tariff revenue for the US government.
The report calls for firm action against countries that allow tariffed goods to be rerouted to avoid US law. The proposed measures include immediate interdiction, penalty tariffs, sanctions and possible loss of access to the US market.
Full list of countries US accused of being part of ‘shadow transhipment network’
- India
- Canada
- European Union
- Israel
- Japan
- Mexico
- South Korea
- Taiwan
- Brazil
- Indonesia
- Malaysia
- Thailand
- Turkey
- Vietnam
- Argentina
- Azerbaijan
- Bangladesh
- Cambodia
- Chile
- Colombia
- Costa Rica
- Dominican Republic
- Georgia
- Jordan
- Kazakhstan
- Kenya
- Laos
- Morocco
- Myanmar
- Oman
- Panama
- Peru
- Philippines
- Singapore
- Sri Lanka
- Switzerland
- United Arab Emirates
- Uzbekistan
Inside the White House report
The report said that these countries played a role in enabling this “transhipment network”.
One estimate cites American commerce department data to claim that “approximately $67 billion in US-bound goods were transshipped from through the top hubs—Mexico, India, and Vietnam—in 2025, producing an estimated $28 billion in lost tariff Revenue.”
Under a central case of $75 billion in annual illegal transhipment, the report estimates that around 450,000 jobs were displaced, annual gross domestic product was reduced by $113 billion to $150 billion, and associated federal revenue losses stood at $19 billion to $26 billion. The report says these figures are model-based estimates rather than observed job counts.
The report says allowing US goods to enter the Chinese market at lower tariff rates has helped specific corridors within India gain economically at the expense of their American counterparts.
It points to the Pune-Gujarat-Chennai corridor as one such corridor, saying it has benefited from Chinese transhipment of electric pumps and compressors while hurting US manufacturers in cities such as Cincinnati, Dayton and Columbus in Ohio.
(With inputs from Shashank Mattoo)
