In cases of undervaluation, the logistics companies profit by pocketing the difference between what they charge the manufacturers to cover customs and what they actually pay.
“We suspect these schemes are not uncommon."
The practice thrives partly because CBP inspects only a small fraction of shipments.
How much CBP is willing and able to chase tariff evaders remains a question as Trump reshapes the global trading system.
Commentators on Chinese social media have expressed confidence in recent days that the logistics companies will be able to find ways around the US tariffs and the end of de minimis treatment. One post circulating on WeChat argued that while Trump's actions would scare away "a large number of people who want to engage in foreign trade," the export industry is far from dead.
It is the "large companies that are unlucky in the trade war, such as Apple and Nike. They can't escape at all, and they really have to pay a 104% tariff. The goods of small companies can be increased at a very small cost through gray customs clearance, re-export trade, etc, and reach the United States."
For Chinese merchants, going through the logistics companies not only minimizes costs but also provides extra layers of opacity against both Chinese and US authorities. When providers use their go-to import and export entities to handle paperwork, "it is nearly impossible for authorities to cross check the exporters' trade records with the importers' bank account transactions.”
Logistics companies' methods could also help explain the widening gap in trade data reported by the US and Chinese authorities in recent years.
Before 2018, China had reported lower export values to the US than the comparable American data on imports. This was partly because a sizable portion of goods were shipped through Hong Kong.
The gap narrowed and flipped since 2020, when China began to report higher totals of goods exported than the US registered on the way in, which experts say partly reflects rampant undervaluation.
Underreporting coupled with surging de minimis shipments resulted in at least $100 billion in "missing imports" in US data in 2024, "virtually all of which can be attributed to China."
Trade fraud lawyers expect more efforts to underpay duties with or without the assistance of third-party logistics companies.
"They will devalue imports or say it comes from a different country.”
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