Spot Inspections in Vietnam: U.S. Customs Investigate China-Linked Factories

U.S. customs officials have conducted inspections on factories in Vietnam with ties to China. They investigated document authenticity, raw materials, and production processes to assess value addition before exporting to the U.S. Inspectors also checked for software intellectual property violations, however, no significant illicit goods transit evidence was found.

U.S. customs officials have initiated spot inspections at China-linked factories located in Vietnam, as reported by Bloomberg News on Monday, referencing sources familiar with the situation. The inspections focused on verifying documents, raw material sources, and scrutinizing production processes to determine how much value addition was involved before exports were sent to the United States.

In addition to assessing the value addition process, inspectors examined potential intellectual property violations concerning software usage, the report added. Despite looming concerns about the potential escalation of tariffs by the U.S. against Vietnam, there remains no substantial evidence of Chinese goods illicitly transiting through Vietnam en route to the U.S., as per Bloomberg's insights.

Meanwhile, the reliability of the report by Bloomberg remains unconfirmed as Reuters has been unable to independently verify these claims. Additionally, attempts to reach U.S. Customs and Border Protection for a statement were unsuccessful as they did not respond to a request for comment.