The U.S. on Thursday (August 13, 2026) accused over 40 countries, including India, of operating a “shadow trans-shipment network” to help China evade high tariffs and unveiled plans to use artificial intelligence to detect and penalise such practices.
The countries that comprise China’s Shadow Transshipment Network include many of America’s largest trading partners, ranging from Mexico and Canada on U.S. land borders to the European Union, India, Japan, and South Korea. Mr.
“For years, the great transshipment scam has let Communist China launder its exports through more than 40 countries,” Peter Navarro, Counsellor to the President for Trade and Manufacturing, told reporters. “China began using these third countries for minor processing, relabeling, repackaging, reinvoicing, or routing changes that created the appearance of a new national origin while leaving the underlying Chinese content largely intact,” Mr. Navarro said in the report. Navarro announced that the U.S. will use an AI-enabled “Detective Border” to identify transshipped goods reaching American shores.
