U.S. Customs and Border Patrol has discovered a massive network of Chinese shell companies, set up in Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam and Indonesia, specifically to avoid U.S. tariffs.
…”Investigations into transshipping are ongoing, the CBP tells FOX Business with monetary recovery likely to grow beyond $400 million”…
Up to 250 shell companies have been identified in the Beijing network with boots on the ground going to look at manufacturing facilities in Southeast Asia that have no manufacturing activity, yet they generate products for shipment to the USA.
CBP is now on the trail of what CTH identified in January of this year with a visit to Vietnam {GO DEEP}.
ASEAN NATIONS – U.S. Customs and Border Protection has busted up a duty-evasion ring attempting to evade President Trump’s tariffs, FOX Business exclusively reports.
The CBP uncovered over $400 million in unpaid trade duties through investigations permitted under the Enforce and Protect Act (EAPA), a tactic used to police and stop illegal transshipments and other methods aimed at defrauding the U.S. government. That figure is expected to rise as the investigation deepens.
[…] A source tells FOX Business’ Edward Lawrence that one of the operations had boots on the ground in Taiwan and Indonesia to look at mattress factories and found that there was no production going on.
Additionally, over half, or $250 million, came from a network of 23 Chinese shell companies which funneled repackaged goods as if they were made in Asian nations, including South Korea, Indonesia and Vietnam, to avoid tariffs. (read more)
Wow China evading tariffs???
Who could have predicted that!
You silly goose! you forgot the /s
Who would have thunk it? I’m shocked I tell you. \sarc off
And to think China was dumb enough to think they could pull the “wool” over Trump’s eyes Silly rabbit
Heh.
Only everyone with at least a minimal functioning level of discernment.
Umm… pretty much everybody! LOL. 🤣
What is even more amazing is the posters here who repeatedly say something like, “I hope that Trump doesn’t get bamboozled by XYZ and fall for all of their lies, deflections, and cheating.” as though PDJT and his Team haven’t already anticipated those moves.
🚨🚨Busted!!🚨🚨. 💥🇺🇸💥🇺🇸💥🇺🇸💥
Fantastic. More tariff penalties coming China’s way.
It’s the American companies that imported the goods that pay any tariffs not China.
I don’t think that is the case when fraud is involved.
The penalties are paid by the fraudsters.
It was the chinese who set up the shell companies. They own the fines.
And we now own some mattress making tools.
Not so sure you have a clue what tariffs are and how the work
He doesn’t get it about tariffs… and quite a few other things.
Then why would China use shell companies?
Theoretically, but Sundance explained in President Trump’s first term that China subsidized their exporting companies with enough to essentially absorb most of the tariff costs in order to keep their exports to the U.S. competitive.
In some cases costs went down a bit in direct conflict with the MSM “experts” dire predictions.
💯 %
I experienced this first hand as a buyer for a large national retailer. Our vendors lowered costs in the vast majority of cases. If they did not, we usually bought from someone else, and/or another country. In a very few cases we did accept a small increase, but never more than a few percent vs. the 25% tariff in most cases.
After the 2016 election, both Samsung and LG built washer factories in the US to avoid the penalties levied on South Korea at the time. In that case Samsung and LG paid the tariffs until the new factories were up and running since they were the importer of record. A large percentage of products are in fact imported by the vendor, and NOT the end purchaser. Our propaganda nozzle media totally gloss over that fact.
… oh… and now Samsung and LG are moving DRYER production to those factories as well.
In that case Samsung and LG paid the tariffs until the new factories were up and running since they were the importer of record. A large percentage of products are in fact imported by the vendor, and NOT the end purchaser.
Our propaganda nozzle media totally gloss over that fact.
Exactly.
We can stop the pretending with this line that it’s importers who pay the price of tariffs. While technically, yes, it is the importer who pays the tariffs, the foreign seller lowers their price to compete and avoid losing market share. Additionally, foreign nations must subsidize their exported goods (by directly or indirectly paying manufacturers) and manipulate currency to keep their exports competitive.
Notice, it is mainly foreign countries and not U.S. importers negotiating with our trade teams. The days of corporate interests (via U.S. Chamber of Commerce) writing our trade policy is over.
I have been importing products from Europe for years. While it may be true that importers are responsible for some tariffs currently my products land with duties are paid by the European seller. So it is not true that the importer pays the tariffs as this is negotiated between the exporter and buyer ahead of time.
Sons, You are purchasing imports on a DDP basis. Deliver duty paid. Not very common. You are actually not the importer in this case.
For what it is worth, from Grok (Disclaimer: Grok is not a lawyer)
US importers can still be liable for penalties under 19 USC 1592 even if victims of fraud by others (e.g., exporters providing false info), if they failed to exercise reasonable care, which may be deemed negligence. If they prove reasonable care and voluntary disclosure, penalties may be mitigated or avoided.
If the importer proves no negligence (i.e., exercised reasonable care), they are not subject to penalties under 19 USC 1592. Penalties may instead be assessed against culpable parties, such as exporters or others involved in the violation. However, the importer may still owe the evaded duties under 19 USC 1592(d).
====================
So importers have to be careful. Maybe visit the factory and convince themselves the manufacturer is really in the claimed country?
At any rate, it makes is less likely companies will import goods (yay!).
Yes, and Customs (CBP) has “pierced the veil” and imposed fines on companies NOT technically acting as Importer of Record.
Leverage is a great thing when your enemy gives it to you on a platter. As if we wouldn’t be watching for this tactic.
Kind of like all the Chinese eBay sellers who claim to be “US sellers,” but if you can find their address, it’s a Rent-a-Storage address. (They usually give themselves away with their poor English language skills.)
Was looking for supplements on ebay one day last week and noticed a seller in Pakistan was shipping items from Chyna.
All I thought of was how they were trying to avoid the tarriffs.
Purchased American made and sold supplements.
there’s only one supplement company in the world that tests all it’s products for heavy metals, glyphosate, etc
healthrangerstore.com
for example….
most other brands of turmeric are not tested and contain copious amounts of lead that does not need to be disclosed
this vendor is not the cheapest, but is the purest you can buy
huge selection also
Thanks for the information. I’ll check it out!
btw you can also get vitamins here that have the USP stamp on it and that guarantees that the product contains what it says it contains…….
All well and good as long as you have proof that the ingredients of those supplements were also made/harvested in the US. That is where it gets tricky. Some ingredients are not native to the US.
That’s for sure, and I do take a chance when purchasing some things that I have not found anywhere in the U.S.
Some things are near impossible to find in the U.S. Real Wasabi? Almost everything we know of as Wasabi in the U.S. is fake and made with Horseradish. Ajowan? I’d never even heard the word before. Amchur? Galangal? Those are all “healing spices” talked about in the book, ‘Healing Spices’ by Bharat Aggarwal.
I bought the book last year and it took me a couple months to roundup all 50 spices discussed in its pages.
But yes, it did get tricky not only finding medicinal “spices” within the U.S., but spices from plants harvested here, too.
ESL vendors are easy to spot, most of them do not understand the nuances of English syntax.
Uh oh!
Busted!
Good work, CBP.
What about India, Pakistan, Lesotho, Jordan, and Haiti?
Do you really think that Team Trump has not thought that Chyna will use more than one nation to circumvent tariffs?
Of course not. Why waste your time making such a vacuous reply? All I did was go through my closet and look at the labels. In some cases I’ve been wearing those clothes off and on for 8-10 years. They came through nations other than the ones mentioned in the article. I find it fascinating, as these truths are exposed, to be able to validate them myself.
PLEASE! Can’t…take…any…more…WINNING!!!
There will be reciprocal individuals and companies in the USA who are going to tagged for implication. Democrats will be filing restraining orders to their favorite judges.
Good to have an administration that is actually doing something about fraud against the USA.
Good to have an administration who will stand up to China rather then be bought off by China
More than likely it will be the legitimate US Companies that imported the goods at the Port of Entry that will be liable for the Customs Duties and any penalties.
It’s not going to the ghost shell companies in Taiwan or Vietnam that are going to pay!
Ok… Well obviously they are identifying those shell companies, so…
Are you sure about that?
It was the chinese who set up the shell companies. They own the fines.
‘More than likely it will be the legitimate US Companies that imported the goods at the Port of Entry that will be liable for the Customs Duties and any penalties.’
If this is accurate, so what? 🤔
Good point. Source domestically or risk fines.
Let’s pretend that they will be liable. Then that forces them to do their due diligence better or find US based companies to get them their products.
This will teach them to be better at their business.
It may or may not be the ghost shell companies in Taiwan/Vietnam that are going to pay but I guarantee you the Team Trump will make sure that CHYNA will pay in some way, shape, or manner.
Right on the 🎯 Sundance
This site is changing history!
One would think they could have at least set up some kind of Potemkin Village. What a lazy bunch..
In politics and economics, a Potemkin village (Russian: [pɐˈtʲɵmkʲɪn]) is a construction (literal or figurative) whose purpose is to provide an external façade to a situation, to make people believe that the situation is better than it actually is.
Good article.
Please though, avoid the error
Every
Darn
News
‘Organization’
Makes,
Every single day.
CBP:
Customs and Border Protection:
CBP officers wear blue uniforms and man ports of entry:
Airports
Seaports
Border Crossings
CBP is an almagam of
US Customs
INS
USDA Agriculture specialists
CBP also has an air and marine arm.
BP:
US Border Patrol:
Agents wear green uniforms
BP agents patrol the nation’s borders, north and south,
Between the
Ports of Entry that CBP officers man, as well as the waters of the Florida peninsula and Puerto Rico.
They patrol on foot, horseback, atv, pickup/suv, and boat.
CBP and BP are sister agencies, but they are Not the same.
They both are part of the Dept of Homeland Security, as is another sister agency, ICE:
Immigration and Customs
Enforcement.
Each has a mission that supports the other.
I have known BP agents that did lateral moves to become CBP officers.
BP is a critical job, and its agents face higher risks than CBP officers, since by definition they are out in the open, patrolling lonely stretches of border, with backup further away.
Both are armed law enforcement, but BP functions within a set distance from the actual border, while CBP functions at both the actual border and the ‘virtual’ border (ie, airports).
Even though CBP has existed for 20 years… and BP has existed for 100 years,
So-called ‘News’ networks, papers, ‘journalists’ and talk-show hosts (such as Mark Levin)
Conflate the two
All
The
Time.
There is no
Customs and Border Patrol.
Whenever I hear a news story, or read an article that incorrectly labels these agencies, I have to assume that if a reporter can’t get
This
Simple
Fact
Straight…
Then the rest of his story is
******
As well.
My hat’s off to BP agents. I worked field ops for a wireless company in the El Paso/Las Cruces market. I went to the BP Museum in El Paso to pay respects. Those men have stones.
It’s not an easy job – a BP agent never knows what’s behind the next tree or bush.
Plus, cartels have gotten more aggressive in recent years – the incredible level of violence south of the border has been threatening to cross over for years.
Thank goodness our President has made securing the border a top priority.
Most people read CBP as Customs(checking shipments) & Border Patrol(land and sea deterrent to people & drugs crossing in US). At least I do. I never knew they inspected facilities in other countries(at least that’s what I read from the article). That’s the amazing difference to me! (If true as reported by Bill Melguin).
Bill Melguin is one of the VERY few who ‘gets it’.
His reporting is knowledgeable.
Yes, CBP has pre-clearance duty stations in other countries. I know one CBP officer who is working pre-clearance in Ireland… and another had a TDY (temporary duty) in Singapore. Tours might last 2-3 years.
One additional note: when CBP officers are working in another country, they do not carry firearms.
I have a buddy who had a TDY at the port at Sweetgrass, Montana. The complex is a joint American-Canadian building, straddling the border.
When he wanted to use the break room, he had to secure his weapon in a locker – the break room was on the Canadian side.
Say it ain’t so! Who woulda thought?
So everyone wants a piece of the Canadian economic model…
And here I thought they were honest.. who knew
Its a china shell game.
The Eagle eye is quicker than the china hand.
They cheat, they steal, they lie.
https://www.help.cbp.gov/s/article/Article1853?language=en_US
5yrs. Imagine products waiting for a new administration or a new 3rd party for shipment. China really hates us!
Transshipping… transfats… transchildren…
Sickness in every direction.
Destroy China economically, Mr. President. Completely.
If it wasn’t for Bush peré tossing the CPC a lifeline after the Tianamen Square incident…
If it wasn’t for Kissinger wanting to open the door to the dragon to begin with…
Didn’t Sundance provide us with the details of how China was using other countries that couldn’t fight back as dumping and rebranding facilities only?
“U.S. Customs and Border Patrol ”
Its U.S. Customs and Border PROTECTION!
Exactamundo!
The people who should NEVER get such a simple fact wrong – are the ‘journalists’ employed by msm propaganda outfits.
They have no excuse.
Imagine calling the FBI the
‘Federated Bureaucracy of Investigations’ or the CIA
the
‘Continental Intelligence Agency’.
CTH does a good job of correctly identifying agencies… however, the misperceptions daily reinforced by the msm and even alternate media leads people to assume the letters CBP stand for something it ain’t.
As SD has mentioned, we have the insight here. Most regulars knew it would happen and, in fact, assumed it was already going on.
Now take a trip to Canada, china’s newest province.
Chyna is sneaky – honor and integrity has a different meaning in that culture.
If you can lie and cheat,
and gain an advantage that way, it’s more than tolerated – it’s celebrated.
That’s why ANY agreement with the CCP
Has to be verifiable – and you
HAVE
To assume they’re cheating – or trying to.
Conceptually – the rule is – We win, you lose.
I am sure PDJT read The Art Of War while attending the New York Military Academy.
Effing Chinese. I expect nothing less.
There’s no such animal as “customs and border patrol.”
So if the article got that wrong, what else did they screw up?
$400MM is what they have caught so far.
How effective have they been. 80%?
20%?.
Is this just bait to mis- or re-direct our investigators attention away from the main stream?
I hope they are being VERY effective at finding the money and where products flow.
Better for us in long run.
To many countries and individuals including politicians create these shell companies and this is where a non partisan IRS and all the forensic experts we employ should earn their pay rather than do absolutely nothing.
And people thought SD was just a global traveler
Hopefully, it triggers higher tariffs on China, and the countries that allow it on their soil.
Saw on the news last night that the increased Tariffs and Duties have been EXPANDED to include nearly ALL off-shore shipments.
That part of the announcement came before the news story continued with the spin of “cost to the consumer started”.
The RATE of Inflation does not start dropping until the cost of money and Major US Wall Street owners get on-board to care about the livelihoods of their customers in the nation where they make the majority of the money, do the majority of their banking-financing as well as set up their HQ in Safety.
Examples:
I know for a fact that Walmart pricing and merchandising EXECUTIVES met last week in Washington DC with democrat and Bush Republican leaders to strategize on pricing, mail order business and advertising of pricing impacts. They DID NOT meet with anyone from the President’s Economic Team.
Fuel prices at the pump are FIXED inside a very specific band of pricing that ensures fuel prices do not help with inflation. I base this on observation of the 10+ LOCAL gas stations and outlets I see on a daily basis.
The Chicoms cannot be trusted. Period. I sincerely hope the U.S. begins weaning itself off of cheap Chinese products that only facilitate the continuation of a corrupt evil communist regime that exfiltrates our wealth and threatens to destroy us.
Of course they did… never trust CCP
Imagine that. Maybe President Trump has not discovered that literally trillions are at stake because he thinks the financial markets are created by the Main Street economy. Money is just a placeholder for wealth. We can follow the money to find that most of it is controlled by a few huge worldwide “investment” corporations. The money is not backed by anything so propping up it’s market value is the only thing that can keep the financial sector alive. They are attempting to back load the value by purchasing real property before the inevitable world wide markets crash from the weight of this preposterous scheme. My opinion, so far.
Very happy to see this. Please, Mr. President, keep busting some chops.
Bottom line. Get going US manufacturing. This is the tip of the fraud iceberg of imports. Look internal to the US. A boom is a coming!
I have been in business many years. I have had customers across the spectrum. I hate to say it but my deep empirical experience is THE CHINESE CHEAT.
The explanation I was given by a Chinese American friend was they feel no shame out side of their Chinese community.
Chinese society needs Jesus. They are so insufferably dishonest that it makes no sense to even do business with them until they clean up their loathsome act. Better that than my tax dollars go to CBP having to play this constant game of whackamole with these Godless communists.
Is the Chinecon government that stupid?