Chinese businesses are sending increasing volumes of goods to the US via south-east Asia in a bid to evade the tariff wall erected by Donald Trump as part of his trade war, data suggests.

China is increasingly rerouting its exports through Southeast Asia to circumvent the heavy tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, according to new data reported by the Financial Times. While the value of Chinese goods directly shipped to the U.

So far, semiconductors are exempt from tariffs but Trump has threatened levies on them several times, and that uncertainty is making it near impossible for businesses to plan for the future. Also last week Bloomberg reported the White House is planning to further tighten controls over artificial intelligence (AI) chips by restricting shipments to Malaysia and Thailand to crack down on suspected smuggling of the technology to China.