Tariffs ‘Matter of Life and Death’ for Chinese Exporters to US

Chinese exporters are struggling in the face of steep new U.S. tariffs, Reuters reported Tuesday (April 15) based on interviews at the Canton Fair, China’s largest trade expo.

Candice Li, marketing manager for medical device firm Conmo Electronic, said in the report that U.S. orders for her company’s products have evaporated following the tariffs.

“It’s a matter of life and death because 60% to 70% of our business is with American clients,” Li said, per the report. “Goods cannot be exported, and money cannot be collected. This is very severe.”

Other exporters said they too had seen their U.S. orders either disappear or get placed on hold, a worrying development given that China ships more than $400 billion in goods to the U.S. per year, more than any other country, according to the report.

While U.S. tariffs on other nations are lower, they are likely to lessen demand and, in turn, curb the appetite for Chinese goods in other parts of the world, the report said.

Kobe Huang, sales representative at Shenzhen Landun Environmental Technology, which makes water filters and smart toilets, said in the report that while sales in Europe are up, the American market is “frozen,” with orders from customers and distributors in limbo.

“They have asked us to hold on. We are holding on,” Huang said, per the report.

U.S. importer Spence Levy, president of Air Esscentials, was browsing for scented products at the expo, but told Reuters he had no plan for purchases because “every day I wake up, I feel like it’s a different tariff.”

“Prices are going to go up,” he said, per the report. “Even for the stuff that we source in the United States, a lot of the raw materials are sourced from around the world. It’s not just the China tariffs.”

Meanwhile, forthcoming research by PYMNTS Intelligence examined which goods and services consumers are willing to pay for even in the face of higher prices, and which ones they would be willing to give up. Personal care products and services, along with children’s activities, showed price resilience.

“Just like salon nail treatments, children’s extracurricular activities are nearly Teflon-resistant to steeper price tags,” PYMNTS wrote Tuesday. “A mere 2.9% of parents said they would stop paying for soccer leagues, music lessons and the like if they became more expensive over the next 12 months.”