(NewsNation) — The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) executed a search warrant last week at an Ohio-based Chinese auto parts manufacturer that a congressional committee has accused of trade fraud.
DHS agents searched the Harco Manufacturing Group in Moraine, Ohio, on Thursday, the Dayton Daily News reported. Harco is a U.S. subsidiary of Qingdao Sunsong, a Chinese auto parts manufacturer. Sunsong Holdings acquired Harco in 2015.
The address for Harco is the same address Sunsong North America lists on its website.
The search happened amid growing concerns among U.S. lawmakers that some Chinese companies are evading U.S. tariffs, according to reports by Axios and Bloomberg.
The search was “part of an ongoing federal investigation,” a DHS spokesperson told Dayton Daily News.
The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party wrote a letter in September to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayoraks accusing Qingdao Sunsong of moving some of its production to Thailand to evade U.S. tariffs.
In the letter, lawmakers cited Sunsong’s public findings which state the company’s products are subject to U.S. import tariffs of 25% imposed on certain goods made in China and that “to reduce tariff costs, the issuer has accelerated production in Thailand,” according to Axios.
Additionally, Congressman Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., and Darin LaHood, R-Ill., wrote that Sunsong’s actions were a “case of blatant trade fraud that is having a catastrophic impact on American manufacturers.”
“The use of transshipment to evade United States tariffs is a serious violation of U.S. law and undermines American economic and national security,” they wrote.
The Biden administration has kept many of the tariffs that the Trump administration imposed on China beginning in 2018.
China hasn’t met its commitment under the 2020 trade deal with the U.S. which required the country to increase its purchases of U.S. goods and services, CNN reports.