Trend Chinese circumvention exports routed through third countries including Korea increase

Summary

US tariffs on China have been followed by a sharp rise in shipments rerouted to the US through Southeast Asia and other third countries. In the past, most origin fraud involving Korea sought to pass foreign goods off as Korean to capture a price premium. Recently, however, more products are being routed through Korea specifically to escape the reciprocal tariffs and import restrictions that the US now applies differently by country. The motives identified include avoiding anti-dumping duties, high tariff rates and import controls, capturing the Korean-origin premium and, in security cases, leaking strategic goods or core technologies. The report treats this as a growing risk that could turn Chinese circumvention into a Korea-US trade dispute.