In China’s export hub of Yiwu, traders shrug off Trump’s tariffs

Traders in China's export manufacturing hub of Yiwu shrugged off U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs and moves against China on Sunday, with some saying they made preparations to soften the blow.

Yiwu city in eastern China's Zhejiang province is the world's largest wholesale hub for small manufactured items, exporting products ranging from Christmas trees to costume jewellery globally, including to the United States.

"We predicted that he would assume power," Cheng Haodong, chairman of Beisi Group, a business which sells clothes to water bottles, told Reuters from their office in the city.

"After he assumed power, ok, how do we want to adjust? Actually it was prepared for in advance," he said.

They monitored information on overseas social media sites, he added, which led to them establishing a new factory for producing liquid laundry detergent in the U.S. state of Tennessee in April.

Trump's campaign promised 60% tariffs on Chinese imports before he was elected. However, he revised that to 10% after taking office, which took effect on Tuesday. He also plans to cancel duty-free treatment of low-cost packages from China.

“This time actually the shock won't be too big for us,” said Cheng, who declined to provide detailed figures on sales.

Beisi exports to other businesses abroad, but also sells some of its products directly to U.S. consumers through online platforms such as Temu and Shein, low-priced shopping sites that analysts expect will be hard hit by Trump's repeal of the 'de minimis' rule - a trade loophole that allowed low-value imports to enter the country duty-free.

Similar sentiments were shared by traders and buyers in the cavernous, sprawling market in the city, where many were just returning to work after the end of the eight-day Lunar New Year break, China's biggest holiday.

"(Even if) you increase (the tariff) to 50% it won't have any effect on us," said Zeng Hao, owner of Jinqi Wanju which sells toys such as brightly-coloured dinosaur figurines.

That was because the products are highly profitable and his firm could absorb some of the tariff burden, he said. Companies down the supply chain also have reason to increase their own prices, he added.

Trump's moves have reignited fears that full-blown trade war will escalate between the world's largest two economies, with China preparing to impose its own counter-tariffs of up to 15% on some U.S. goods.

Abby Jin, who buys products in Yiwu on behalf of other customers in markets such as the United States, Australia and the Middle East, said vendors in the city were not short of orders.

"We can respond by slighting reducing our profit margins or adjusting costs. In the end, the additional costs will be passed on to the end consumers in their country, meaning they will ultimately bear the consequences of their own economic policies,” she said.

“For the U.S., whether they can find a suitable country to replace us (as a trade partner) is a question they need to consider themselves."