A surge of “origin washing” advertisements has emerged on Chinese social media platforms, presenting exporters with methods to evade 145 per cent US tariffs by re-exporting goods and using freight forwarding services or by misrepresenting their manufacturing locations, as per a Radio Free Asia (RFA) report.

Promotions shared on Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote, and Douyin, the Chinese counterpart of TikTok, feature businesses offering comprehensive re-export and freight forwarding services through Southeast Asian nations such as Vietnam and Thailand to bypass increasing restrictions on export rerouting through these regions. Lee. Some freight forwarders also assist exporters in altering or repacking containers to conceal their origins.