South Korea uncovers Chinese goods relabelled for US tariff evasion on the rise

South Korea has found rising attempts to disguise foreign products as Korean exports, mostly from China, to avoid US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, its customs agency said on Monday.

The Korea Customs Service said it has found 29.5 billion won (US$20.7 million) worth of country-of-origin violations from the first quarter, with US-bound shipments accounting for 97 per cent of the total, after a special investigation last month.

That compared to a total of 34.8 billion won worth of violations for all of 2024, among which US-bound shipments accounted for 62 per cent.

Shipping containers are seen stacked at a pier in South Korea’s largest port city of Busan. Photo: Yonhap/EPA-EFE

Since taking office in January, Trump has introduced big tariffs on various products and countries that started to come into force in March.

South Korean officials have said there could be a rise in attempts by foreign companies, such as those in neighbouring China, to use South Korea, which is a major US ally and has a free-trade pact, as a bypass to avoid tariffs and regulations.

Trump slapped 25 per cent tariffs on South Korea this month, which were later suspended for three months. The United States now imposes 145 per cent tariffs on China after back-and-forth retaliatory actions, which economists say have severed trade between the world’s two biggest economies.

A “Made in China” label is seen on a battery pack in California, US. Photo: Getty Images/AFP

Monday’s findings include 3.3 billion won worth of cathode materials used for batteries, imported from China and shipped to the US with South Korea falsely marked as the country of origin, to avoid already high tariffs in January even before Trump’s tariffs took effect.