The Trump administration on Thursday released a sharply worded report accusing Chinese exporters of orchestrating a system of “illegal transshipment” through more than 40 third countries to dodge US tariffs, branding the practice “The Great Transshipment Scam.”

The 25-page document claims Chinese firms have systematically diverted goods through lower-tariff jurisdictions since the US kicked off its trade war with China in 2018.

It alleges that exporters use limited assembly, relabelling, repackaging, re-invoicing and false country-of-origin declarations to disguise Chinese-origin products and secure more favourable tariff treatment on entry into the US.

The White House report says that Chinese exporters have “increasingly routed goods through third countries … where limited assembly, finishing, repackaging, relabelling or documentation changes could create the appearance of a different national origin.”

The report cited a range of third-party estimates for the annual value of goods involved in illegal or suspect transshipment, spanning roughly US$40 billion to US$303 billion.

Assuming US$75 billion in annual illegal transshipment, the administration estimates that roughly 450,000 American jobs have been displaced and up to US$150 billion of GDP has been lost. These figures are described as model-based illustrations rather than observed counts.