Chinese enterprises, in violation of the law, label their goods as Korean to supply them to the US, bypassing the increased import tariffs imposed by Donald Trump, writes Reuters citing data from the South Korean Customs Service.
In a special investigation conducted last month, violations related to the country of origin of goods amounting to 29.5 billion won ($20.81 million) were discovered in the first quarter, with 97% of the total violations related to shipments to the US. This is comparable to the total volume of violations of 34.8 billion won for the entire year of 2024, among which shipments to the US accounted for only 62%.
"During Trump's first presidency, there was an increase in attempts at disguised exports, and we expect a similar trend to be observed," said service representative Lee Kwang Woo.
On Monday, cathode materials for batteries worth 3.3 billion won were found, imported from China and sent to the US with a false indication of South Korea as the country of origin to avoid high tariffs in January, even before the start of Trump's trade war.
In March, surveillance cameras worth 19.3 billion won were imported from China in parts and assembled in South Korea to bypass US restrictions on Chinese communication devices.
Some goods were sent abroad, while some are still at the port. The Korean Customs Service has created a special task force to prevent attempts at illegal exports of such goods and plans to develop more specific response measures to protect domestic companies. Meanwhile, the identified violations will be referred to the prosecution.
On Monday, representatives of the South Korean Customs Service held a meeting with US representatives to discuss joint investigation efforts.
South Korean officials stated that attempts by foreign companies from neighboring China to use South Korea, which is a major US ally and has signed a free trade pact, as a workaround to avoid tariffs and regulations may increase.
This month, Trump imposed 25% tariffs on South Korea as part of a new set of large-scale tariffs, which were then suspended for three months.
Meanwhile, US tariffs for China amounted to 145%, which, according to economists, led to a rupture in trade relations between the two largest economies in the world.