Chinese manufacturers try to avoid Trump administration tariffs by fraudulently undervalue the load sent to the US. UU., Exploiting a system that US authorities have fought for the police.
Financial Times reviewed the offers of chemicals and Chinese packaging suppliers to send products to small US businesses with “paid delivery tasks”, a process known as DDP that allows the exporter to cover tariffs.
Suppliers said the process would allow them to reduce the lady of the cost of rates because the cloud cloud will deliberately underestimate the goods sent, or alter their descriptions for OED tasks.
“We see more cases of factories in China that offer to pay customs duties for colleagues, and then sell the merchandise in the US. UU. At prices below what the homework should be,” said Ryan Petersen, executive director of Logistics Flexport Platform.
The practice threat to undermine efforts to encourage US companies to obtain products from national manufacturers, one of the objectives of President Donald Trump’s rates. It could also temporarily isolate American consumers of some price increases to the goods of any day.
“This is nothing more than a Dodge rate,” said Dan Harris, an American lawyer who works with companies that obtain products from China. While federal prosecutors would go after US companies collud in practice, “there is not much than [they] You can do “to pursue Chinese counterparts, Harris added.
Aaron Rubin, owner of the Logistics, Shiphero company and a 93 -branded martial arts equipment distributor, said their Chinese suppliers “have sacrificed to make DDP and pay [the additional tariffs]. They said “we are going to cover 100 percent of the tasks.” . . I would never receive an invoice. “
Companies such as Rubin, who have reported such approaches to customs and border protection of the United States, are concerned that competitors accept agreements, leaving the companies that are respectful of the law at a disadvantage.
The practice “closes my electronic commerce business,” Rubin said. “I can’t afford to pay a rate of 175 percent if my competition will not pay it; nobody is going to buy my [more expensive] Estate. “
The owner of a California -based food manufacturer, who asked not to be appointed, said a Chinese supplier “offered to change the gears in the invoices to help me evade the tariffs” shortly after Trump launched the greatest tasks.
“My option is to fire my team or join fraud,” said the owner.
Some of the Chinese companies that approached American companies were sacrificed to register as a “foreign registration importer”, which would make them legal response to pay any fee due.
The United States is unusual among the main economies to allow foreign companies without presence in the country to publish a small bonus to register as importers, which makes it difficult for authorities to impose great sanctions.
A government report in 2008 found that the Justice Department rarely pursued cases of fraud for “foreigners in the registry”, because “it is unlikely that collection actions based on criminal tasks can be successful incorporated [a] Foreign court ”.
The problem was also highlighted in the Report of Project 2025 of the Heritage Foundation Conservative Foundation, which has worked as a plan for some of the Trump administration policies.
The document suggested that the US government.
Callie Milford, who runs the company of soap and beauty products No Tox Life, has also been contacted by suppliers that offer dodges tariffs.
His Texas business manufactures in the United States, but obtains some China packaging. After the Trump administration first imposed taller tariffs on Chinese products in February, he asked their long -standing suppliers how much their costs would increase as a result.
Most of the answers, which were shown to the FT, were: “Its price is really increased, because we are going to use DPP sending and essentially low deciding the shipment,” said Milford.
They added that due to a jump in transport costs, the shipping price “would rise a little, but the amount that was going to rise compared to the rates,” Milford added.
Louisiana senator Bill Cassidy, who has campaigned for a long time for customs reform, said the government needed to “give CBP the tools for police shipments that came from China.”
Cassidy said he was working on a bill “to increase visibility in our international supply chains” and planned to present it in this Congress session.
In a statement, the CBP said that “enforces tariffs through a combination of legal authority, advanced systems and operational procedures” and that “as a result of recent presidential actions, the application will include serious sanctions allowed by law.”
Chinese logistics managers told Nikkei Asia last month that shell companies created to evade tariffs. The FT also reported that Chinese exhibitors tried to avoid tariffs by sending products through the third country.
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