Foreign Affairs

Eugene

(64,513 posts) Sun Apr 13, 2025, 07:39 PM Apr 13

Chinese suppliers are offering U.S. Amazon sellers a tariff solution--but it's not legal

Source: Fortune

Exclusive: Chinese suppliers are offering U.S. Amazon sellers a tariff solution—but it’s not legal

Jason Del Rey
Sat, April 12, 2025 at 2:04 PM EDT 3 min read

President Trump's China tariffs are not just roiling the operations of Amazon sellers and other U.S. retailers big and small. They're also upending the businesses of Chinese manufacturers and distributors supplying goods to the U.S. from the other side of the world.

Now, some of these suppliers are trying to keep their businesses humming by offering a simple—but illegal—solution to U.S. Amazon sellers: lying about the value of the Amazon merchandise you are importing to the U.S. in an effort to lower the duties you'll have to pay under the new slate of tariffs.

Yes, that sounds a lot like customs fraud.

In emails and WeChat messages viewed by Fortune, around a half dozen Chinese suppliers proposed such illegal workarounds to executives from a mid-sized household goods brand with a large presence on Amazon.

-snip-

Read more: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-chinese-suppliers-offering-u-180458865.html

7 replies

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Highlight:

Chinese suppliers are offering U.S. Amazon sellers a tariff solution--but it's not legal (Original Post) Eugene Apr 13 OP

Why should that be a surprise? MichMan Apr 13 #1

THIS johnnyfins Apr 13 #2

How is receiving less money for a product cheating? taxi Apr 13 #3

How is fabricating false invoices to evade customs duties not cheating? MichMan Apr 13 #4

To be clear, taxi Apr 13 #5

They are both in on it MichMan Apr 13 #6

Let me ask you this, taxi Apr 13 #7

MichMan

(14,927 posts)

1. Why should that be a surprise?

Reply to Eugene (Original post)

Sun Apr 13, 2025, 07:45 PM

Apr 13

They steal intellectual property, copy patented and trademarked products to create counterfeits, and fail to abide by WTO guidelines. What else would you expect?

johnnyfins

(1,985 posts)

2. THIS

Reply to MichMan (Reply #1)

Sun Apr 13, 2025, 07:51 PM

Apr 13

taxi

(2,161 posts)

3. How is receiving less money for a product cheating?

Reply to Eugene (Original post)

Sun Apr 13, 2025, 08:01 PM

Apr 13

If the amount paid is the invoiced amount and the tariff, and that total is the same amount as what the product was previously sold for, how is that avoiding the tariff? What is does is reduce the amount of tariff collected - effectively causing the tariffs collected to be less than what was budgeted for. That by itself forces the projected income from the tariff to be missed.

MichMan

(14,927 posts)

4. How is fabricating false invoices to evade customs duties not cheating?

Reply to taxi (Reply #3)

Sun Apr 13, 2025, 09:24 PM

Apr 13

" ....lying about the value of the Amazon merchandise you are importing to the U.S. in an effort to lower the duties you'll have to pay under the new slate of tariffs"

taxi

(2,161 posts)

5. To be clear,

Reply to MichMan (Reply #4)

Sun Apr 13, 2025, 09:30 PM

Apr 13

Wouldn't what you are saying mean that it is the people here, those importing and falsely reporting the value of the goods, that are the ones doing the cheating?

MichMan

(14,927 posts)

6. They are both in on it

Reply to taxi (Reply #5)

Sun Apr 13, 2025, 09:43 PM

Apr 13

Those who are providing fraudulent documentation to facilite it are just as guilty as those using them.

taxi

(2,161 posts)

7. Let me ask you this,

Reply to MichMan (Reply #6)

Sun Apr 13, 2025, 09:48 PM

Apr 13

Why do you think they, the both of them, both sides, have had to resort to this unlawful scheme?

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