Companies Dodge Trump’s Tariffs Through Creative Rerouting and Value Underreporting

Corporate America finds loopholes in trade barriers—again.

The Tariff Evasion Playbook

Businesses bypass Trump's import taxes using two primary tactics: rerouting shipments through third countries and deliberately underreporting product values on customs declarations. These maneuvers cut costs by millions while maintaining supply chain fluidity.

The Rerouting Game

Goods take circuitous paths—China to Vietnam to US, or Mexico to Canada—to disguise country of origin. Customs paperwork gets creative with transshipment points that obscure final destinations.

Value Manipulation Tactics

Importers slash declared values by 30-50% on official documents. Some split large shipments into smaller consignments falling below reporting thresholds. Others misclassify products entirely to qualify for lower tariff categories.

The Regulatory Cat-and-Mouse

Customs officials scramble to track these schemes while companies continuously adapt. Enforcement remains patchy—like most government financial oversight that's always one step behind innovative accounting.

Global trade finds a way, even when politicians build walls.

Warning signs are already appearing

Trade numbers are already showing red flags that suggest companies are trying to avoid the new taxes.

Vietnamese companies have increased both their purchases from China and their sales to the US since the beginning of this year. Goldman’s researchers noted that detailed product information shows a stronger connection than usual between what Vietnam buys from China and what it sells to America.

“This pattern matches what we’d expect to see when goods are being rerouted,” the Goldman analysts wrote.

However, they added that some of this activity might be real investment in fresh factories as supply chains adjust to the changed global trade situation.

Some signs show that foreign sellers are reporting lower values for goods coming into the US than what they’re actually worth.

In the past, US records of imports from China were typically about $6 billion higher each month than what China reported sending to the US. This difference was partly due to how statistics are collected. But during the 2018 – 2019 trade dispute, this relationship switched. The gap has grown by another $4 billion a month in 2025. According to a recent report by Cryptopolitan, China’s shipments are surging outside the US.

This happened even though Washington began closing an important loophole this spring. The “de minimis” rule had allowed packages worth less than $800 to enter the US without paying taxes or going through full customs checks.

Ending this rule should have made the reporting differences smaller. But since the gap kept growing, Goldman sees this as proof that companies are reporting false values again.

Government fighting back against tax avoidance

Price data also suggests tax avoidance is happening. Goldman’s research found that costs per item for several types of goods have dropped sharply since April. This includes iron bathtubs from China and gas cooking ranges from Thailand and China-made cast iron bathtubs.

Prices for some US imports have been reduced by amounts too large to be explained by lower manufacturing costs. This suggests international companies may be avoiding taxes by reporting lower US import prices, the analysts explained.

The TRUMP administration has introduced new steps to stop tax avoidance. These include a 40% charge on goods that are moved through other countries and a special Trade Fraud Task Force.

While Goldman’s estimates of lost revenue are very large, “the impact could be smaller if the recent actions by the Trump administration to” reduce evasion work well, the bank’s analysts noted.

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