South Korea has found increased attempts to disguise foreign products as Korean exports, primarily from China, to avoid US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, its customs agency said yesterday.
The Korea Customs Service (KCS) said that after a special probe last month, it has found 29.5 billion won (US$20.8 million) worth of contraventions related to products’ country of origin from the first quarter, with US-bound shipments accounting for 97 percent of the total.
That compares with a total of 34.8 billion won worth of contraventions for all of last year, among which US-bound shipments accounted for 62 percent.
Photo: Reuters
Trump has imposed significant tariffs on various products and countries, including those on China that began to rise in February.
“There was a rise in disguised export attempts during Trump’s first presidency, and we expect there to be a similar trend,” KCS investigation planning director Lee Kwang-woo said.
Anticipating increased risks, authorities conducted the latest investigation pre-emptively to prevent illegal exports.
They have already found signs of attempts to avoid Trump’s tariffs from the first quarter, Lee said during a news briefing.
South Korean customs officials held a meeting with US officials yesterday to discuss joint investigation efforts.
South Korean officials have said there could be a rise in attempts by foreign companies, such as those in China, to use South Korea as a bypass to avoid tariffs and regulations.
Trump slapped 25 percent tariffs on South Korea this month, among a new set of sweeping levies, which were later suspended for three months. In comparison, the US now levies 145 percent tariffs on China after back-and-forth retaliatory actions.
Yesterday’s findings include 3.3 billion won worth of cathode materials used for batteries, imported from China and shipped to the US, with South Korea falsely marked as the country of origin to avoid already high tariffs in January, even before Trump’s tariffs took effect.
In addition, 19.3 billion won worth of surveillance cameras last month were imported from China in parts and reassembled in South Korea to bypass US restrictions on Chinese communication devices, the KCS said.
Some of the goods have been shipped abroad while others are still at the port.
The Korea Customs Service has launched a special task force to prevent attempts to illegally export such goods and plans to come up with more specific response measures to protect domestic companies. Meanwhile, the violations discovered will be referred to prosecutors.
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