Counterfeit goods already make up a $2 trillion shadow economy, copying everything from logos to packaging while delivering none of the quality or safety your customers expect.
Now, with US tariffs reshaping global trade – 15% in the EU, 10% in the UK, and 30% in China – the pressure on supply chains has never been greater. While markets are being forced to evolve in complex ways, counterfeiters are seizing the moment.
Higher costs and slower supply chains are some of the consequences, and this is leading to a flood of fake goods ready to undercut your brand.
The good news is you can stay ahead. But only if you take strategic action to strengthen your brand protection.
Why tariffs give counterfeiters the upper hand
- Higher prices push consumers towards counterfeits: As tariffs drive up prices of genuine imports, cost-conscious buyers turn to cheaper alternatives. Counterfeiters flood high-demand sectors like electronics, sportswear, and auto-parts. More dangerously, it’s also affecting alcohol and pharmaceuticals – with counterfeit products that compromise both quality and safety.
- Broken supply chains open doors: Extra costs, paperwork and delays slow legitimate imports. This is where counterfeiters exploit the gaps, slipping fake products through undetected.
- Fakes get a competitive edge: The bigger the price gap between real and fake, the more attractive counterfeits become. And when markets get disrupted, counterfeiters move faster than legitimate brands can.
How counterfeiters exploit tariffs
- Smuggling and rerouting to avoid tariffs: Counterfeiters smuggle or redirect shipments through low-tariff countries. The result: fakes look authentic, and cost less than your genuine products.
- Local production of fakes to cut costs: With imports under pressure, counterfeiters are ramping up domestic operations to bypass tariffs altogether. That means more fakes, made faster, with less scrutiny.
- E-commerce accelerates online counterfeiting: Counterfeiters rely heavily on online markets – from Amazon and Walmart to social media ads and cloned websites – to push fake goods straight to US consumers. With thousands of listings popping up each day, it’s even harder for brands to fight back.
The Real Cost of Counterfeits
- Revenue stolen in plain sight: Counterfeiters aren’t side players, they’re direct competitors. Every fake sale siphons dollars from your bottom line – eroding market share and stunting your growth.
- Trust lost overnight: Fakes don’t just fail quality checks, they fail your customers too. One bad experience with a realistic looking counterfeit can permanently break the bond of trust you’ve built, driving buyers to other options and weakening your brand equity.
- Customers put at risk: Fakes aren’t just cheap knockoffs. They’re dangerous – especially in sectors like pharmaceuticals, alcohol, cosmetics, and auto parts. Toxic ingredients, incorrect dosages, and unsafe manufacturing put customers at risk of serious illness, injury, or worse.
- Funding for organised crime: Counterfeiting is big business for criminal networks, and the profits don’t stop at fake handbags. They fund drugs, weapons, and human exploitation – giving crime a deeper foothold in the US and beyond.
How to fight counterfeiting
Secure your IP
With your assets legally protected, you can move fast against those who misuse them:
- Register trademarks across key markets, including logos, wordmarks, taglines and brand colours.
- Keep solid copyright records for all your designs and artworks.
Be proactive, not reactive
Don’t wait for fakes to surface.
- Use AI-powered software to scan online listings, ads, domains and social platforms for early signs of fakes.
- Run test purchases to expose counterfeit networks and collect hard evidence.
- Master the takedown processes on Amazon, Walmart, and global marketplaces so you can act decisively (not defensively).
Bring in reinforcements
Counterfeiters operate at scale. So should you.
Partner with brand protection experts like SnapDragon, who combine advanced tech with human intelligence to detect, enforce and investigate threats worldwide. We fight fakes, so you stay focused on growing your business.
Don’t hand counterfeiters your brand
Tariffs have given counterfeiters their opening. Don’t let them take your customers, your revenue, or your reputation. Partner with SnapDragon, and shut them down before they spread.
Laura Sodaymay
SnapDragon | Brand Protection Specialist
