Washington Names India in a Tariff-Evasion Crackdown as Delhi's Security Adviser Lands in Beijing

The White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy published a report on 13 August accusing more than 40 countries of helping Chinese exporters avoid United States tariffs by relabelling goods or misdeclaring their origin, a practice the document calls the Great Transhipment Scam. India appears in the top tier, alongside Canada, the European Union, Japan, Mexico, South Korea and Taiwan, described as large industrial economies where transhipment risk sits inside otherwise legitimate trade. The Hindu explains that Washington estimates roughly $67 billion of United States-bound goods passed through Mexico, India and Vietnam from China in 2025, costing about $28 billion in forgone duties, and that it plans an artificial-intelligence-based border screening system in response.

Indian officials reject the framing and argue that origin rules are being used to reopen market-access demands under another name. The dispute arises while the two governments are still negotiating over tariffs already imposed on Indian exports.

Delhi is meanwhile moving on a second track. National Security Adviser Ajit Doval arrived in Beijing for the 25th round of Special Representatives talks with Foreign Minister Wang Yi, covering troop deployments and management of the Line of Actual Control. The Hindu reports that the timing points to preparations for Xi Jinping to attend the BRICS summit in New Delhi on 12 September, which would be his first visit to India in seven years. Wang's recent travel through the region, including a trip to Seoul that the South China Morning Post covered as unwelcome in parts of the South Korean establishment, follows the same pattern of Chinese outreach to United States trading partners under tariff pressure.