Commentary: US ‘transshipment scam’ narrative raises troubling prospect of a purity test for Southeast Asia - CNA

If the US sees all trade as a potential scam, trading partners would do well to prepare for more tariffs, says Hinrich Foundation’s Deborah Elms.

Docked cargo ships are loaded with shipping containers at Port Elizabeth, New Jersey, US, on Jul 12, 2023. (File photo: Reuters/Mike Segar)

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Deborah Elms 10 Sep 2026 05:59AM (Updated: 10 Sep 2026 10:11AM) Bookmark Bookmark Share WhatsApp Telegram Facebook Twitter Email LinkedIn Set CNA as your preferred source on Google Add CNA as a trusted source to help Google better understand and surface our content in search results. Read a summary of this article on FAST. Get bite-sized news via a newcards interface. Give it a try. Click here to return to FAST Tap here to return to FAST FAST SINGAPORE: If the United States were simply arguing against illegal transshipment, there would be little objection across Asia. Governments in the region have taken steps to clamp down and eliminate the practice for years. 

But the Trump administration seems to be going much further, accusing more than 40 countries, including nine in Southeast Asia, of participating in a “Great Transshipment Scam”. For the world’s largest economy, all trade is a potential scam. 

The White House argued precisely that in an August report, written by trade adviser Peter Navarro. He painted a picture of a global network designed to sneak Chinese goods into the US by routing them through third-country markets to evade American tariffs. Every year, the report claims, the US “loses tens of billions of dollars” to illegal transshipment. 

But its definition of problematic trade seems to be widening and raises the troubling prospect of a new kind of “purity test”.