The White House has added Uzbekistan to a list comprising over 40 countries and territories considered jurisdictions with an elevated risk of illegally transshipping Chinese goods to circumvent American tariffs. This conclusion is based on a report titled 'The Great Transshipment Scam,' prepared by the White House's Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy.
In this report, Uzbekistan is categorized under the third category, characterized as 'small opportunistic targets.' Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Jordan, Kenya, Morocco, Panama, the United Arab Emirates, and several other states are also included in this same category.
The report authors note that countries in this category do not account for the largest volume of transit in dollar terms, but they possess certain advantages that make them attractive for rerouting Chinese goods. These advantages include accessible labor, favorable conditions in free economic zones, the presence of ports or border crossings, customs warehouses, specialized manufacturing capabilities, or preferential access to the US market.
Furthermore, the report separately places Uzbekistan in the functional group of 'land nodes of the Belt and Road,' alongside Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Kazakhstan. According to the authors, states in this group function as transit railway hubs and dry ports that consolidate cargo and transfer it from land transport to maritime transport.
The report emphasizes that inclusion in this list does not imply that all of a country's shipments violate US customs regulations. The transit issue arose after the Trump administration imposed Section 301 tariffs on China in 2018. As tariffs on Chinese goods increased, some shipments previously going directly from China to the United States began passing through countries with lower rates, where light assembly, repackaging, re-invoicing, or documentation changes were used to assign the goods a new country of origin.
The report authors refer to this network as a 'shadow transit network' and divide the participating countries into three tiers: large diversified economies such as Canada, the European Union, India, Israel, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, and Taiwan; countries highly integrated into China's supply chains, including Brazil, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Turkey; and smaller jurisdictions, among which is Uzbekistan.
To estimate annual transit volumes, the report cites five independent assessments from the U.S. Council of Economic Advisers, the Department of Commerce, and the firms Goldman Sachs, Exiger, and Altana. These estimates range from $40 billion to $303 billion annually, depending on the methodology applied. The White House uses a central estimate of $75 billion, based on Exiger's calculations.
Applying assumed tariff differentials of 25%, 35%, and 45%, the report authors estimate annual US customs losses to be in the range of approximately $10 billion at the narrowest estimate to over $100 billion at the broadest. At the central transit volume scenario of $75 billion, annual duty losses are estimated at $19–$34 billion.
The report also contains estimates of broader economic consequences. Under the central scenario, approximately 450,000 jobs are projected to be replaced in the US, resulting in GDP losses ranging from $113 billion to $150 billion, and a decrease in federal tax revenue of $19–$26 billion annually. In the widest impact scenario, these figures rise to 1.82 million jobs, over $450 billion in GDP, and $77 to $103 billion in tax revenue.
According to the report, the Trump administration is already taking steps to counter illegal transit, including provisions in bilateral trade agreements that restrict third-country benefits, as well as a presidential decree from June 3, 2026, strengthening customs control, which tightens requirements for importers, collateral, and disclosure of the ultimate beneficial owner. Additionally, U.S. Customs and Border Protection is developing an AI-based system known as the 'detective border agent,' designed to analyze shipment data, routes, and manufacturing capacities to identify anomalies and direct law enforcement to the most likely violators.
The report authors caution against prematurely assessing the full effect of the new measures, as trade and customs statistics are subject to delays, and some provisions of the enhanced customs control order have not yet been fully implemented.
The White House has leveled accusations against more than forty countries and territories, asserting that Chinese firms are utilizing their markets to reroute goods into the United States to evade high American duties.
According to estimates from the Donald Trump administration, such schemes result in an annual loss of $19 to $26 billion in U.S. customs revenue.
An official White House document, titled 'The Great Transit Scheme,' lists countries at high risk of participation in this scheme. These include Canada, Mexico, India, Japan, South Korea, as well as European Union member states and other major U.S. trading partners. Washington emphasizes that these countries conduct a substantial volume of legitimate trade with the United States.
The mechanism of this scheme involves products first being shipped from China to a third country. There, the goods may undergo repackaging, relabeling, refinement, or new documentation processing. Subsequently, they are exported to the U.S., declaring a different origin, which allows them to benefit from a lower duty rate.
Data presented in the report shows significant discrepancies in the estimated volume of such trade. Depending on the methodology used, the figures range from $30 to $40 billion, and in some cases, up to $300 billion annually. A separate analysis points to approximately $75 billion worth of goods that may have passed through third countries to circumvent tariffs.
Peter Navarro, White House advisor on trade, noted that this practice intensified after the introduction of the first major U.S. tariffs on Chinese products in 2018. He explained that differences in tariff policies among various countries became an incentive for companies to alter logistics routes to secure more favorable terms for importing into the U.S.
U.S. agencies plan to tighten oversight of these shipments using artificial intelligence technologies. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection is developing a system called Detective Border, designed to analyze data on transport routes, product information, company owners, and other details to detect suspicious cargo.
Washington faces the complex task of separating illegal duty evasion from routine transit operations or full production in third countries. The White House acknowledges that it is difficult to determine whether a product has genuinely acquired a new origin after processing, or if it was merely repackaged to bypass tariffs.
The release of this report coincides with ongoing trade disputes between the U.S. and China. This situation could become one of the topics discussed at the upcoming meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington, scheduled for September. It should be recalled that the U.S. previously imposed tariffs on the import of unmanned aerial vehicles, setting a 100% duty on drones weighing over 25 kilograms.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Uzbekistan has decided to approve a list of foreign states that guarantee a level of personal data protection comparable to that established in Uzbekistan. This list includes 49 countries and territories, among which are Russia, the USA, Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea.
The adopted resolution aims to create a unified procedure for the cross-border transfer of personal data. Now, personal and anonymized information can be automatically transferred to states included in the approved list using information systems based on international agreements. In this case, the operator is not required to obtain additional permits or notify the authorized body, but they must guarantee the protection of data against any leaks.
For data transfers to jurisdictions not included in this list, stricter requirements will apply. Such transfers are permissible only if the legal, organizational, and technical conditions established by the authorized body are met.
In the event of a personal data leak during cross-border transfer, the database operator must notify the authorized body within one day of discovering the incident. Furthermore, detailed information about the causes of the incident and the measures taken must be provided within the following 72 hours.
Additionally, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, together with other agencies, must develop requirements for standard contractual terms and corporate data protection rules when sending data to countries not included in the list. Concurrently, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been instructed to prepare proposals for Uzbekistan's accession to the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data, as well as for including the country in relevant international registries.
The approved list includes states such as Austria, Andorra, Argentina, Belgium, Bulgaria, Brazil, Hungary, Hong Kong, Greece, Denmark, Spain, Iceland, Italy, Canada, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Uruguay, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Croatia, Czechia, Switzerland, Sweden, Estonia, New Zealand, as well as the previously mentioned countries.
It is important to note that for the USA, this decision applies exclusively to companies participating in the EU–US Data Privacy Framework program. Previously, in February, the Senate of the Oliy Majlis approved amendments to the 'Personal Data Law,' which removed major obstacles to the functioning of PayPal and other global digital payment systems in Uzbekistan, laying the foundation for freelancers to legally earn income and for the country to integrate into the global digital economy.
