South Korea uncovers Chinese goods relabelled for US tariff evasion on the rise
Seoul’s customs agency found millions of US dollars worth of Chinese exports were disguised to dodge Trump’s hefty duties
The Korea Customs Service said it has found 29.5 billion won (US$20.7 million) worth of country-of-origin violations from the first quarter, with US-bound shipments accounting for 97 per cent of the total, after a special investigation last month.
That compared to a total of 34.8 billion won worth of violations for all of 2024, among which US-bound shipments accounted for 62 per cent.
Trump, who took office in January, has imposed significant tariffs on various products and countries, including those on China that began to rise from February.
“There was a rise in disguised export attempts during Trump’s first presidency and we expect there to be a similar trend,” said Lee Kwang-woo, investigation planning director at the Korea Customs Service.
Anticipating increased risks, authorities conducted the latest investigation preemptively to prevent illegal exports. They have already found signs of such attempts to avoid Trump’s tariffs from the first quarter, Lee said during a media briefing.