Tariffs are Already Being Attacked by Schemers

I read an article in Fortune by Jason Del Ray this past weekend about fraudsters attempting to scheme the system to lower the value of imported products so that they can pay less in duties.

The article was based on the White House’s recent escalation of tariffs on Chinese imports—raising them to 145%, which is impacting Chinese Amazon sellers and United States-based small businesses.​

“President Trump’s China tariffs are not just roiling the operations of Amazon sellers and other U.S. retailers big and small,” writes Del Ray. “They’re also upending the businesses of Chinese manufacturers and distributors supplying goods to the U.S. from the other side of the world.

Now, some of these suppliers are trying to keep their businesses humming by offering a simple—but illegal—solution to U.S. Amazon sellers: lying about the value of the Amazon merchandise you are importing to the U.S. to lower the duties you’ll have to pay under the new slate of tariffs.”

One business executive Del Ray interviewed spoke about how one of their suppliers has already approached their business offering such a program. The executive says he is “worried for smaller importers that don’t understand the legal trouble they can get into by following their suppliers’ problematic advice. Some also proposed another workaround called Delivery Duty Paid shipping. In this scenario, the supplier would handle getting the goods through customs rather than the U.S. brand and lie about the value of the shipment essentially on the brand’s behalf. The goal of this, at least in part, would be to create an artificial buffer between the U.S. seller and customs.”

I know that many in the glass industry are worried about how these tariffs will affect their business. In almost every meeting I am in or with customers I speak with, the questions are: How will tariffs affect our business? Will our prices go up? How will this affect the supply chain?

Our answer is nobody knows currently. However, you want to work with established companies well-prepared for whatever may be coming. Now is probably not the time to jump at some of these offers you may receive or make major changes to your business. We need to see how this will all work its way out as things settle down. All of us following the rules are in the same situation, playing on an even playing field. Established suppliers that you trust and have experience working with tariffs in the past will keep you up to date and work to keep our industry supplied and completive.