White House Estimates Transshipment Exposure at $40 Billion to $303 Billion

The White House's August 13 report, The Great Transshipment Scam (opens in a new tab), assembles five estimates ranging from $40 billion to $303 billion annually. Their methods and definitions differ, and none establishes a precise amount of proven fraud. Trade crime is designed to escape detection. Its exact scale cannot be known; its order of magnitude is difficult to dismiss.

The harm extends well beyond lost customs revenue. Unlawful advantages can take sales, investment and jobs from American manufacturers. Yet trade fraud is still too often treated as a technical white-collar offense, rather than a threat to the workers and industries competing against it.

The administration has elevated the issue, but EnforcementNOW believes its economic consequences still receive too little attention. The challenge is to turn recognition into timely investigations, actual collections and deterrence.