Three Latin American governments that moved against Chinese commercial interests over the past year were named in a White House report on Thursday, which accused Chinese exporters of routing goods through third countries to evade US tariffs.

Mexico,

Panama and

Colombia now join

Brazil,

Argentina,

Chile,

Peru,

Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic among more than 40 countries the report says carry elevated risk of illegal transshipment, the practice of moving goods through an intermediate country so they enter the US under a different origin and a lower duty.

Previously, the three Latin American countries appeared to support the Trump administration during the relentless

US-China trade war.

Panama’s Supreme Court annulled the concessions held by Hong Kong’s

CK Hutchison at both ends of the canal in January, drawing an arbitration claim of more than US$2 billion and a freeze on Chinese state investment.

Colombia applied a 35 per cent duty in March on steel and metalworking imports from countries without a trade agreement, the ceiling permitted under

World Trade Organization (WTO) rules and aimed principally at its largest supplier, China.