US Says 9 Latin American Countries Helped China Avoid Tariffs
Listen to the story
The United States says nine countries in Latin America helped China avoid tariffs. A tariff is a tax on goods from other countries.
The US government says China used these countries to send goods to America. This is called transshipment. It means goods go through one country before they reach another country.
The White House says this helped China skip US tariffs on Chinese goods. President Trump put these tariffs on China to help US businesses.
The White House says the US is losing a lot of money. It says the US loses between $19 billion and $26 billion every year.
This money is called revenue. Revenue is money that a government gets, often from taxes.
The US says this was a scam. A scam is a plan to trick people or take their money in a dishonest way.
The article calls it 'a great scam while it lasted.' This means the plan worked well for some time, but now people know about it.
The US government may take action against these countries. It is not clear yet what will happen next.
Vocabulary15 words
- tariff
- a tax on goods from another country
- transshipment
- sending goods through one country to hide where they really come from
- revenue
- money a government gets, often from taxes
- scam
- a dishonest plan to trick people or get money
- Latin America
- the part of the world south of the US, with Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries
- White House
- the place where the US president works; also means the US government
- accuse
- to say someone did something wrong
- avoid
- to stay away from something or not do it
- billion
- a very big number: 1,000,000,000
- government
- the group of people who run a country
- goods
- things that are made and sold
- trade
- buying and selling things between countries
- China
- a large country in Asia
- president
- the leader of a country
- action
- something done to fix a problem
Quiz
Answer key
1. Helped China avoid US tariffs 2. $19-26 billion 3. True
Fill-in-the-blank listening
Play the audio again and fill in the missing words as you listen.
The United States says nine countries in Latin America helped China avoid _____. A tariff is a tax on goods from other countries.
The US government says China used these countries to send goods to America. This is called _____.
The White House says this helped China skip US tariffs on Chinese goods. President _____ put these tariffs on China to help US businesses.
The White House says the US is losing a lot of _____. It says the US loses between $19 billion and $26 billion every year.
This money is called revenue. Revenue is money that a _____ gets, often from taxes.
The US says this was a _____. A scam is a plan to trick people or take their money in a dishonest way.
The article calls it 'a great scam while it _____.' This means the plan worked well for some time, but now people know about it.
The US government may take _____ against these countries. It is not clear yet what will happen next.