Vietnam tested by multinationals seeking trade war detour to avoid US tariffs on China
- American officials aware of schemes to ship goods through the Southeast Asian nation
- US President Donald Trump levied tariffs on US$200 million of exports from China in September
It looked like a one-off case in late 2016 when The European Anti-Fraud Office determined that certain organic coated steel products that originated in China had been shipped through Vietnam to avoid anti-dumping duties.
The fraud unit advised nine European countries on how to recover around €8.2 million (US$9.31 million) in anti-dumping and other import duties that it said had been “evaded,” according to a spokeswoman.
But the idea of shipping through a third country to avoid tariffs has flourished in recent months due to the trade war between the United States and China, and multiple companies producing products in China are exploring Vietnam to find out how they might do so.
To do this, they are actively checking whether they can legally re-label products made in China as made in-Vietnam goods under different product headings or even by just sending them to Vietnam for a simple transfer to the United States, several businesspeople and a foreign diplomat said.
“A lot of our clients are asking whether they can basically transit goods through Vietnam, so taking shoes and bringing them through Vietnam and then exporting them to the United States,” said Maxfield Brown, senior associate with Dezan Shira & Associates in Ho Chi Minh City.