Georgia has been identified in a White House report examining the use of third countries to route Chinese goods into the United States in an effort to avoid tariffs imposed on Chinese products.

The report, titled The Great Transshipment Scam and published on 13 August by the White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, describes a network in which Chinese-made goods can be sent through other countries, repackaged, minimally processed or accompanied by altered documentation before being exported to the US as products originating elsewhere.

Georgia is listed among the countries the report describes as “Small, Opportunistic Chinese Targets,” alongside Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and other states. The report also identifies Georgia and Azerbaijan as transit points providing rail and dry-port services, cargo consolidation and connections between overland and maritime routes.

Georgia is included in the report’s description of the “Functional Architecture of the Shadow Transshipment Network” as part of the Belt and Road overland network, alongside Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

The report’s assessment has drawn attention to the scale of Georgia’s trade with China. In 2025, Georgia imported around $1.98 billion worth of goods from China, while exports from Georgia to the United States totaled about $120 million.

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze questioned the basis of the report on 18 August, saying there were no specific facts presented to substantiate the claims concerning Georgia. “We are doing everything to ensure that no such scheme exists in the country. Let them provide us with facts on any issue, and we will respond accordingly,” Kobakhidze stated. He also rejected the assumption that the White House report necessarily relied on verified evidence regarding Georgia, saying that information provided to the US administration could itself be inaccurate.

The recent critical assessment places Georgia within a wider network of countries through which Chinese goods can move before reaching the US market. The latter does not identify a specific Georgian company or shipment as having been involved in tariff evasion. Its focus is on the risk associated with existing trade and transit infrastructure and the possibility that such routes could be used for transshipment.