US transshipment ‘scam’ claims put Asean exporters in a bind

Analysts say a report accusing nine Southeast Asian nations of helping China skirt tariffs conflates cheating with legitimate trade

Southeast Asian exporters may soon face a heavier burden of proof to show they are not helping Chinese goods dodge US tariffs after the White House named nine countries in the region as part of what it called a global “Shadow Transshipment Network”.

But they also warned that Washington risked blurring the line between deliberate tariff evasion and legitimate supply-chain diversification.

“A supply chain touching China is different from illegal transshipment, and we cannot let [Peter] Navarro gaslight the region on this,” said international trade specialist Barrett Bingley, Asia regional director at the Asia-Pacific Foundation of Canada, referring to the White House trade adviser who led the report.

“A multinational corporation moving production to Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand or Indonesia can be doing real diversification, not just slapping a new label on Chinese goods.”