The Great Transshipment Scam

In “The Great Transshipment Scam” report released by the White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy on Aug. 13, 2026, the White House lays out in great detail how transshipment of products, including aluminum products, has decimated American manufacturing communities and the country’s industrial base. In the report, the White House specifically lays out how China has routed material through Mexico and Canada to improperly receive favorable United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). This transshipment comes at the direct the expense of the U.S. aluminum extrusion industry, American workers and broader American interests. 

The report confirms a threat the U.S. aluminum extrusion industry has confronted for years: duties provide meaningful relief only when the United States aggressively enforces country-of-origin requirements and prevents minor processing, relabeling or paperwork changes from disguising the true origin of imported products.

Key findings relevant to U.S. aluminum extrusion producers include:

• The report identifies more than 40 countries associated with elevated transshipment risk and estimates that illegal transshipment may represent tens of billions of dollars in trade annually.
• Aluminum products are specifically identified among the manufactured goods vulnerable to illegal transshipment, origin shifting and the evasion of antidumping and countervailing duties.
• Common evasion methods include routing products through third countries for minor finishing or assembly, repackaging, relabeling, re-invoicing and the use of false country-of-origin claims.
• The report calls for stronger importer accountability and expanded U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) enforcement, including AI-enabled analysis of shipping routes, ownership relationships, production capacity and other indicators of tariff evasion.

For U.S. aluminum extrusion producers and their workers, the message is clear: trade remedies cannot defend American manufacturing unless they are backed by vigilant enforcement. USAEC supports decisive action by CBP and the U.S. Department of Commerce to identify circumvention, hold importers accountable and ensure that unfairly traded aluminum products do not enter the United States under a false country of origin.

Read the full report on The White House’s website. Or, download it here: The Great Transshipment Scam.