Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Phạm Thu Hằng at the press briefing on August 20. — Photo from the ministry

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam is determined to prevent origin fraud and illegal transshipment while continuing to work constructively with the US to ensure healthy, transparent and mutually beneficial trade, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Phạm Thu Hằng said on Thursday.

At the ministry’s regular press briefing, Hằng was asked about a recent US report called 'The Great Transshipment Scam', which identifies more than 40 trading partners at elevated risk of being used to circumvent US tariffs, including Việt Nam, Indonesia, Japan, the EU, Israel and Canada, among others.

She said that Việt Nam advocates healthy trade cooperation with its partners on the basis of free, fair and mutually beneficial trade, in line with bilateral and multilateral agreements as well as World Trade Organization rules.

“Việt Nam has been focusing on building institutions and strengthening enforcement capacity under legal frameworks and regulations on preventing origin fraud and trade fraud more broadly, and is determined to prevent origin fraud and illegal transshipment,” Hằng said.

The spokesperson noted that as it continues to step up global economic integration, Việt Nam has made strong international commitments against all forms of trade fraud and is working closely with partners to ensure their implementation.

These efforts have been recognised by the international community, she said.

“We will continue to exchange views regarding US concerns in a constructive spirit, in line with the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between Việt Nam and the US, thus maintaining stable and mutually beneficial economic and trade relations between the two countries, while contributing to a transparent and healthy investment and business environment in Việt Nam,” Hằng told the media.

The Great Transshipment Scam report, prepared by the US Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy and released by the White House on August 12, stated that the US faces a growing challenge from goods being routed through third countries to evade applicable tariffs and other trade remedies.

According to the report, illegal transshipment can involve relabelling, repackaging, re-invoicing, minor processing or false country-of-origin declarations intended to obtain tariff treatment that would not apply if the goods’ true economic origin were declared.

The report assessed that over 40 trade partner countries are at elevated risk for illegal transshipment.

It puts estimates of annual potential illegal transshipment or related trade-transfer exposure at between about US$40 billion and $303 billion, depending on the methodology.

Washington has also proposed an AI-enabled system dubbed 'Detective Border', designed to help US Customs and Border Protection analyse shipment data, routing histories, product classifications, ownership relationships and production capacity indicators to identify potentially high-risk consignments.— VNS