DHS Raids American Headquarters of Chinese Car Parts Manufacturer

Original article here.

On Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) carried out a raid against the American headquarters of a Chinese automobile parts manufacturer after the company was accused of trade fraud by a congressional committee.

According to Axios, federal agents executed the search warrant against Harco Manufacturing Group, located in Moraine, Ohio, which is a subsidiary of the Chinese company Qingdao Sunsong. Harco was acquired by Sunsong Holdings in 2015. A spokesman for DHS said that the raid was “part of an ongoing federal investigation.”

Back in September, several members of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party sent a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, accusing Qingdao Sunsong of avoiding American tariffs by shifting its production to Thailand.

The letter pointed to the public filings by Qingdao, which said that the company’s products are facing American import tariffs of 25%, and that “in order to reduce tariff costs, the issuer has accelerated production in Thailand.” Congressmen Mike Gallagher (R-Wisc.) and Darin LaHood (R-Ill.) described this in the letter as a “case of blatant trade fraud that is having a catastrophic impact on American manufacturers.”

“The use of transshipment to evade United States tariffs is a serious violation of U.S. law and undermines American economic and national security,” the members of Congress added.

In response to the raid, a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington D.C. claimed that “some in the U.S. are attempting to politicize and weaponize trade issues between China and the U.S. We firmly oppose this.”

“China-U.S. economic and trade cooperation benefits both sides. Curbs and protectionism will only disrupt normal trade and destabilize industrial and supply chains,” the spokesman continued. “They do not serve the interests of any party.”

Despite reversing many successful policies implemented by the Trump Administration, one of the few areas where the Biden Administration has left Trump-era moves in place is trade, keeping many of President Trump’s tariffs on Chinese products and companies after they were first implemented in 2018.