Chinese goods transshipment haunts Trump-Xi meeting: nine Latin American countries flagged
The White House named nine Latin American nations among 40 flagged for transhipping Chinese goods, days before the Trump–Xi summit in Washington.
On 24 September, Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to meet with US President Donald Trump at the White House, marking their fourth encounter since the previous meeting in Beijing. The meeting occurs amid concerns over trade transshipment, the practice of shipping Chinese goods through third countries to evade tariffs.
In August, the White House published a report titled "The Great Transshipment Scam: Rise, Scope, and Costs," which flags 40 economies as risk points, including nine in Latin America and the Caribbean: Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Panama, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic. The report, signed by the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy under Peter Navarro, highlights various mechanisms used in this scheme, such as relabelling, repackaging, re-invoicing, minor assembly work, and false declarations of origin.
The report provides multiple estimates of the financial loss caused by transshipment. Goldman Sachs offers the lowest estimate of 40 billion dollars (35 billion euros), based on an econometric model using 2023 data. The White House Council of Economic Advisers estimates the loss between 34.2 and 89.6 billion dollars (29.782 and 78 billion euros), with 60 billion dollars (52.25 billion euros) as the midpoint.
Private firm AI supply-chain intelligence firm Exiger estimates the loss at 75 billion dollars (65.3 billion euros), which the report adopts as its central case for further calculations. The Department of Commerce estimates a higher ceiling of 109 billion dollars (94.914 billion euros), while Altana, another supply-chain intelligence company, puts the upper limit at 303 billion dollars (263.852 billion euros).
Written by urgent.news from Euronews Business's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
This story
This is one outlet's version. Read the fullest account.
