Vietnam to crackdown on Chinese goods relabelled to beat United States tariffs

Vietnamhas said it will crack down on goods of Chinese origin illegally relabelled "Made inVietnam" by exporters seeking to avoid the United States. President Donald Trump's tariffs on Chinese imports.

Vietnamese customs have found scores of such cases amid the ongoing United States-Chinatradedispute, the department said in a statement posted to a government website on Sunday.

"The faking of origin and the illegal transhipment of goods happens most often in the sectors of textiles, seafood, agricultural products, tiles, honey, steel and iron, aluminium and timber products," the department said in the statement.

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Some importers had been illegally re-packing goods fromChinain "Made inVietnam" packaging and then applying for aVietnamese certificate of origin with which to export to the United States, Europe and Japan,Vietnamcustoms said.

In one such example, which the statement said was uncovered by United Statescustoms, aVietnam-based manufacturer of timber products was found to have been importing Chinese timber which it then relabelled and exported to the United States.

Vietnam's customs department is developing a process to better identify and impose penalties on businesses which carry out such violations, the statement said.

Vietnamhas emerged as one of the largest beneficiaries of thetradewar between Beijing and Washington as some businesses are shifting their supply chains away fromChinain order to avoid tariffs. An analysis oftradedata by Japan's Nomura Holdings Inc earlier this month showedVietnamhad easily benefited more than other countries.

The Southeast Asian country relies heavily onChinafor materials and equipment for its labour-intensive manufacturing. Meanwhile, the United States is its largest export market.

Foreign minister Pham Binh Minh said in a speech toVietnam's national assembly last week that the government has created a steering committee in response to thetradewar.