Chinese manufacturers pass off their products as Korean to circumvent Trump tariffs
Chinese companies, in violation of the law, label their products as Korean in order to supply them to the United States to circumvent the increased import tariffs introduced by Donald Trump. About this informs Reuters.
The amount of violations in the first quarter of 2025 was 29.5 billion won ($20.81 million), compared with 34.8 billion won for the whole of 2024, according to South Korea’s customs investigation data. At the same time, 97% of violations related to deliveries to the USA.
Among the products imported with false labeling, 3.3 billion won worth of cathode materials used in the production of batteries were found. They were brought from China to South Korea, and from there they were already exported to the USA as Korean products. Also in March 2025, Chinese companies imported components for CCTV cameras into South Korea, assembled them in the country and exported them to the US as Korean products. The cost of these products was 19.3 billion won.
On April 21, South Korean customs officials held a meeting with American law enforcement officers to discuss joint actions in the fight against similar violations. South Korea has already established a special task force to investigate such crimes.
We will remind that on April 2, Trump announced the introduction of 25 percent tariffs against South Korea — in addition to the already effective 10 percent. However, on April 9, their entry into force was suspended for 90 days for all countries except China. The total level of import tariffs on Chinese goods is currently 145%.
