‘Made in South Korea’: How Chinese companies are allegedly ‘evading’ Trump tariffs

Japanese news outlet Nikkei Asia News reported that Chinese companies are allegedly removing US tariffs by exporting goods as South Korean products.
According to the Korea Customs Service, the export made in South Korea was incorrectly labeled, a 29.5 billion win for the January-March quarter. In this, the goods exported to the US had 97 percent account.
“A total of 34.8 billion was won for all of the previous year”, said this. In 2025, the fraud has been exposed so far to 85% of the entire year for 2024.
According to the report, in some examples, the prices of goods have also been announced to deliberately reduce tariff costs.
South Korea’s customs service highlighted several such schemes, including the case of Chinese-made mattresses-which are subject to dumping anti-dumping duties in the US-have been routed through Korea.
These mattresses were stored in warehouses operated by a company registered under a Chinese national name in South Korea, and then the US was labeled as South Korean products.
In another example, the anode material used in a rechargeable battery was sent from China, was re -prepared in South Korea, and falsely labeled before exporting.
Similarly, parts for surveillance cameras were imported into South Korea, assembled domestic, and then exported under the cover of South Korean manufacture.
South Korea’s Customs Agency has now established a special task force to investigate and crack these misleading trade practices. Officials warned that such a strategy may reduce South Korea’s trade reliability and damage domestic industries that follow international rules.
This week South Korea enters a new round of trade talks with the United States. Analysts suggest that the time may be strategic, aimed at demonstrating Seoul’s commitment to curb the indirect export of Chinese goods, a significant concern for the Trump administration.
Earlier, Wall Street Journal reported that American authorities expect to suppress their South Korean counterparts during a conversation to stop such a circumference of tariffs. In response, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said that it would reject any trade deal that compromises Chinese interests and vowed to take mutual counterons if needed.
The administration of US President Donald Trump has slapped goods with China with a tariff that has increased by 145%. Although South Korean goods are currently hit on the 90-day break with “mutual” tariffs, their tariff rate of 10% is far more favorable for now.