CEO: high tariffs are fueling massive import fraud
About Ryan
- Founder and CEO of Flexport, used by 10,000+ companies to move billions in goods
- Built ImportGenius, a leading global trade data provider
- Dubbed tech's "hurricane reporter" for global trade
- Created industry-leading logistics tech, including AI customs audits
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Live onstage at the Masters of Scale Summit, Flexport founder and CEO Ryan Petersen says increased duty rates creates a huge incentive for fraud. He says that the U.S. is unique in allowing foreign companies to import goods with no legal entity or presence, which makes it easy to improperly declare product values and decrease tariff bills by 90%.
Transcript
Note: Transcripts may be automatically generated and are not fully corrected for spelling, grammar, and formatting.
When you jack up duty rates the way we have, you just create this huge incentive for fraud. — For fraud? — Yeah, for cheating. It's quite simple, what's happening, and it's happening en masse. The United States is the only country in the world, the only major country in the world, that allows foreign companies to import goods into the country without any kind of legal entity, physical presence, employees, banking, nothing. You just ask a foreign company to fill out this form, and you just get approved, and you can start importing from overseas. Well, then you just don't, you just misdeclare. You say the products are worth $10,000 when they're worth $100,000. You just reduce your duty rate by 90%. You are committing fraud, and I only have one rule in life, is I'm never going to jail. I don't have the personality for it, you know? — If you don't come away with anything from this event, remember that. Don't go to jail!