Trade crime has increased because of Trump’s tariffs
Trade Fraud in China: Why Do American Companies Advertise Their Products at Border Linear Colliders? The Case of the Auto Parts Company
The Trump administration said that it would focus on fighting trade fraud. The administration is trying to increase enforcement efforts by other countries, including in negotiations with Vietnam, Mexico and Malaysia. The ability of these governments to stop the scale of activity now outweighs their ability to do so, say many American companies.
The Chinese firms advertising these services describe their methods as valid solutions. A fee is used to bring products to the United States with lower tariffs. They say these practices are methods of customs fraud. The companies may be dodging tariffs by altering the information about the shipments that is given to the U.S. government to qualify for a lower tariff rate. Or they may move the goods to another country that is subject to a lower tariff before shipping them to the United States, a technique known as transshipment.
David Rashid, the chairman of the car parts company, has appealed to the government to crack down on unfair trading practices by its competitors and he believes that they will win if nothing is done.
Chinese factories in the wake of the QGP: What a freight forwarder told NPR after the tariffs cut off? — a lesson learned from the case of China
NPR contacted Jiang Kun, a freight forwarder in south China, after the US temporarily paused most of its tariffs on Chinese goods.
There is still a lot of uncertainty among China factory owners, who are not sure if tariffs will go up again after the pause.
Tian, a sales manager in Dongguan, where many Chinese factories are located, says exports to the U.S. make up half of her company’s business. If American importers wanted to place orders for fans and heaters in a few weeks, they would be making them by that time. But this year, overall sales volumes are low.
Some American retailers haven’t made a decision about whether to buy from us. They didn’t reply to our emails. Maybe they are still waiting and watching,” says Ivy Lee, a sales manager at a Chinese homeware manufacturer that sold to retailers like Walmart before the tariffs hit.
These are everyday consumables, and Lee believes demand will return eventually. If they need them, they’ll buy them. As for the broader uncertainty, she adds, “I try not to worry too much. Policy changes don’t belong to us.
“For now, everyone is trying to get as much of their shipments to the U.S. completed as possible within these few months,” says Tian Xin, a freight forwarder who arranges logistics for large freight and also coordinates paperwork for customs clearance for Chinese exports.
Jenny Tian works in freight forwarding in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen and says she has been fielding calls for huge product orders. But the problem is shipping.
If you pay for a container spot on the ship, your container might not get loaded and you might be pushed onto the next available vessel. For her company, the cost of shipping to the West Coast of the U.S. has increased by $1,500 per container.
Many ships serving the routes between the west coast and China have been diverted to other routes causing delays for Chinese exports.
“You need those vessels at minimum to come back [to China], and you create disturbances, and you don’t have enough empty containers, et cetera,” says Eric Martin-Neuville, an executive vice president in Singapore for GEODIS, the French logistics company.
ChrisQue, a regional director at a home appliances factory in Guangzhou, said that his company has held off selling to the U.S. because of worries over volatility. The company produces home appliances, including gas boilers and heat pumps.
New data from China’s national statistics bureau show that exports of goods to Southeast Asia and Europe surged by 8.1% in April compared to the same period last year
According to data from China’s national statistics bureau, the value of exports increased by 8.1% in April when compared to the previous year.
Trade with the U.S had dropped, but exports to Southeast Asia and Europe surged by levels high enough to make up for the lost business — though it is possible some of those exports still ended up in the U.S.