Legally, relocating a product from China to another country (Vietnam for instance) or even relocating and doing the final assembly in another country does not produce tariff exemptions or change the country of origin.
A product must undergo what is commonly referred to as "fundamental transformation" to avoid the said tariff. Such as a chemical reaction that creates a new compound.
For instance after the Ukraine invasion, Canada and the USA agreed to an embargo on Russian oil as did many other nations. We cannot buy Russian oil.
However, India which happens to be one of the largest refiners of oil in the world did not sanction Russian oil.
So Russian oil goes to India to be refined which qualifies as "substantial transformation". One of those refined products is gasoline which in turn is sold legally around the world bc it is now an Indian product rather than Russian.
There is a good probability that many vehicles in North America are using fuel that originated at least in part in Russia, right now!
Having said that illegal transshipment has been a thriving industry forever and will balloon in the current climate.
Even with the intense push over the last decade for large organizations to adopt a China plus one strategy (and hundreds have), it is going to become a much larger problem.
It has been and always will be a cat-and-mouse game with manufacturers and agencies like the CBP.
I doubt it is a coincidence that President Xi is visiting Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia in the coming days.
