House China Panel Probes DHS on Enforcing Trade Fraud Penalties

Chinese companies ship their products to a third-party country, which they falsify as the ‘country of origin’ to avoid U.S. tariffs, lawmakers say.

Subcommittee chairman Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) speaks during a House Armed Services Subcommittee on Cyber, Information Technologies, and Innovation hearing about artificial intelligence on Capitol Hill in Washington on July 18, 2023. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

A House China panel asked the Department of Homeland Security to explain how it investigates and catches Chinese companies that evade tariffs with trade fraud.

In a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Friday, House Select Committee on China Chair Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) and member Rep. Darin LaHood (R-Ill.) alleged China’s Qingdao Sunsong, a Chinese manufacturer of automotive fluid transfer hoses and lines, as being one such perpetrator.