The White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy said on August 13 that the Trump administration is developing an AI-powered “detective border” to identify tariff evasion.

A report from trade adviser Peter Navarro’s office said more than 40 countries face an elevated risk of illegal transshipment, in which Chinese goods enter the US through third countries to avoid tariffs.

The report named Mexico, Canada, the European Union, India, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Brazil, and Malaysia.

It cited Exiger, a US-based AI supply chain firm, for a mid-range estimate of US$75 billion in illegally transshipped goods between February 2025 and February 2026, leading to US$19 billion to US$34 billion in lost tariff revenue.

The report said the system would compare shipment data with routing histories, production capacity, ownership ties, packaging patterns, and port x-ray images.

It added that it can be difficult to distinguish illegal transshipment from lawful supply chain shifts, including manufacturing moved out of China.

🔗 Source: Bloomberg