China, the EU, and Singapore are pushing back against the White House’s new ‘Great Transshipment Scam’ report

Beijing is pushing back against U.S. accusations that several other economies, including several in Southeast Asia, are part of a “shadow transshipment network” that funnels Chinese-made goods to the U.S. while obscuring their country of origin.

On Thursday, the White House’s Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy released a report titled “The Great Transshipment Scam,” which claimed that rerouting Chinese-made goods through a network of 40 different jurisdictions cost the U.S. as much as $303 billion. 

A Chinese embassy spokesperson in Washington D.C. said the country “firmly opposes” the over-stretching of national security justifications to suppress Chinese enterprises, and warned that it would take the steps necessary to safeguard its own interests.

Other governments named in the report, including the European Union and the Southeast Asian nation of Singapore, are also pushing back. Arianna Podesta, the spokesperson of the European Commission, said that while the EU continues to engage with the U.S. on both tariff and non-tariff issues, its rules framework and regulatory autonomy are not “up for negotiation”.

On Aug. 15, Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) also reiterated that it “takes trade compliance seriously”. In response to queries from The Straits Times, MTI emphasised Singapore’s commitment to upholding its reputation as a trusted international business hub, adding........

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