Chinese companies have sidestepped Trumps tariffs. They could do it again. [Video]

After President Donald Trump slapped tariffs on Chinese bicycles in 2018, Arnold Kamler, then the CEO of bike maker Kent International, saw a curious trend play out in the bicycle industry.

Chinese bicycle factories moved their final manufacturing and assembly operations out of China, setting up new facilities in Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia and India. Using parts mostly from China, those companies made bicycles that they could export directly to the United States — without paying the 25 per cent tariff had the bike been shipped straight from China.

“The net effect of what’s going on with these tariffs is that Chinese factories in China are setting up Chinese factories in other countries,” said Kamler, whose company imports some bicycles from China and makes others at a South Carolina factory.