South Korea has faced an unusual situation: countries-especially China-have been trying to disguise its products as South Korean exports to avoid the comprehensive tariffs of US President Donald Trump, his customs agency said on Monday (21).
Korea’s customs customs service said it found 29.5 billion wons (US $ 20.81 million) in breach of origin in the first quarter, with remittances bound for the US representing 97% of the total after a special investigation last month.
This compared to a total of 34.8 billion wons (US $ 25 million) in violations throughout 2024, including shipping to the US represented 62%.
Since taking office in January, which began to take effect in March.
South Korean authorities said there may be an increase in attempts by foreign companies, such as neighboring China, to use South Korea, which is a great US ally and has a free trade pact as a way to prevent tariffs and regulations.
Trump imposed 25% rates on South Korea this month ,. The US now imposes afterwards, which, according to economists, have damaged trade among the two largest economies in the world.
Monday’s findings include 3.3 billion wons ($ 2.3 million) in cathodic materials used in batteries, imported from China and sent to the US with south korea falsely marked as the country of origin, to avoid already high rates in January, even before Trump tariffs come into force.
In March, surveillance cameras valued at 19.3 billion wons (US $ 14 million) were imported from China in parts and reassembled in South Korea to circumvent US restrictions on Chinese communication devices.
Korea’s customs customs service has launched a special task force to prevent illegal export attempts and plans to elaborate more specific response measures to protect national companies.
