Goods are arriving in the US claiming to be made in Vietnam while they are in fact made by Chinese companies. They are indulging in this practice to avoid high tariffs. Many of them have shifted production from China to Vietnam to avoid the 25 per cent levy imposed by the US on Chinese goods amid a spiraling trade war.

Dozens of fraudulent product-origin certificates have been discovered on goods including textiles, fisheries, farm products, tiles, honey, iron, steel and plywood. Chinese plywood was discovered being shipped to America through a Vietnamese company. Vietnam says the trend has affected the reputation of its businesses and goods. The country has threatened to crack down on Chinese companies illegally using made in Vietnam labels on goods shipped to the US to avoid high tariffs.

Vietnam has long been a manufacturing hub for cheaply-made goods from Adidas sneakers and H&M dresses to Samsung smart phones and Intel processors. Those exports have soared this year as China and the US have escalated tit-for-tat tariffs on billions of dollars worth of goods. In the first three months of this year, US imports from Vietnam rose 40 per cent from the same period last year.