By Ng Han Guan
China, Yiwu (AP) – The trade war between the two biggest economies of the world is escalating as China slapped 125% tariffs on US goods on Friday in response to a 145% tariff on Chinese goods.
The companies that were caught in the crosshairs are part of more than $582.4 billion in trade between the countries, with Chinese exporters making up the majority of that exchange.
This is what I had to say about some of them. Most of them spoke at Yiwu in the eastern part of the world’s largest wholesale market.
Yiwu Jiayu Festive Supplies Co., Jiang Jiayu
American customers will usually issue Christmas orders at this time of year, she said, but for now there are no indications of them. US customers make up about 10% of Jiang’s business. She said she doesn’t understand the purpose of Trump’s tariffs.
“Can the US produce China, or what it is currently producing? Ordinary people are the people who are most hurt by tariffs,” she said. “I don’t think he’ll be able to keep doing what he does for a long time.”
But she said she would rather withdraw from the market altogether than paying large US duties.
“In the worst case, we just stopped,” she said. “We don’t lose money just to maintain this market.”
Wu Liying, Owner of Xinyue Socks Co.
Wu runs a store that sells socks in all shades, printed with cartoon characters, stripes and Christmas themed ornaments. She said she has not yet felt the impact of the new taxation, but she knows it’s only a matter of time before foreign trade becomes more complicated.
“Our clients can’t make a profit and we don’t do that,” she said. “We all do business to make money, but if no one makes money, there is no longer a favorable purpose for cooperation for both parties.”
Kitchen employee Margaret Zuan supplies the factory
“The tariffs are so high that it’s the same if you add another 200%,” said Margaret Zuan, an employee responsible for foreign sales at a wooden kitchenware factory in Tokyo in southern Guangzhou.
Zhuang said her American client asked the company to stop production on Monday, when Trump raised the fee to 125%, even after paying a 30% deposit on the order.
Comparing the 2018 President Trump and the trade war, Zhuang said things have been much worse this time as China’s economy is in a recession. She fears that when work stops, she and her 40 colleagues may not have any income and lose their jobs.
Zhuang wanted the US and China to negotiate to “give each other a lifeline.”
“But now we all know, the US just wants to break it,” she said.
Dingdandan, Christmas decoration cellar
Din Dundan, an exporter of Christmas decorations, believes that US customers will continue to buy from Yiwu, at least in the short term, as they have no other place to go.
“Did you know that 90% of US Christmas-related products come from China?” said Ding, who frequently sells to the US market through intermediaries in third countries such as Mexico.
“If China doesn’t export them, the US won’t be able to import such large quantities of goods from elsewhere, right?”
Associated Press journalists Wayne Zhang of Yiwu, Huizhong Wu of Bangkok, China, and Fu Ting of Washington contributed to the report.
Original issue: April 11, 2025, 7:57pm EDT
