US Alerts Cambodian Government to Investigate Possible Misuse of SEZ by Chinese Companies

Yesterday, we wrote about how Chinese companies are relocating their operations to other countries in a bid to fight US’s most recent tariff hikes. And now, the US government has taken note of this development and urged Cambodia to take action against such activities.

On Friday, US has urged the Cambodian government to investigate possible misuse of a special economic zone owned by China to evade tariffs on goods exported to the US. The Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone (SSEZ) is located outside the capital city of Phnom Penh.

However, the SSEZ denies the US allegations and states that an internal investigation it conducted found no such illegal duty evasion activities being conducted. Two previous instances of Chinese companies located in the SSEZ importing transshipped goods have been detected and anti-dumping charges imposed on them.

Both these incidents came to light when US officials conducted on-site inspections of the faciliies located within SSEZ. Finished goods were being imported from China and relabeled to mark them as manufactured in Vietnam.