US orders from Chinese small businesses on hold

“Trump is a crazy man,” Lionel Zoo says, surrounded by his company’s mosquito -saving kit – many were once the best seller in Walmart Stores in the United States.

Now those products are sitting in a box in a warehouse in China and will remain there until President Donald Trump raises his 145% tariff on all Chinese goods bound to the US.

“This is very difficult for us,” he says.

About half of all the products made by his company Sorbo technology are sold to America.

It is a small company of Chinese standards and has about 400 workers in Zhejiang province. But they are not alone in feeling the pain of this economic war.

“We are worried. What if Trump does not change his mind? It will be a dangerous thing for our factory,” Sri Ju says.

Nearby, Amy Guangdong is helping sell ice cream manufacturers at its booth for the selling trade company. His leading buyers including Walmart are also in the US.

“We have already stopped production,” she says. “All products are in the warehouse.”

This was the same story at almost every booth at the huge Canton fair in Guangzhou’s trading hub.

When the BBC talks to Mr. Joo, he is getting ready to prepare some Australian buyers for lunch. They have come in search of a deal and expect to reduce the price.

“We will see,” he says about the tariff. They believe that Trump will return.

“Perhaps it would be better in a month or two,” Mr. Ju crossed his fingers. Maybe maybe … “

Last week, President Trump temporarily stopped After the global stock markets, most of the tariffs became tumble, and a sell-off in the American bond market.

But he put the target import levy on Chinese goods being sent to the US. Beijing responded by implementing its own 125% levy on US imports.

It has shocked traders from more than 30,000 businesses, who have come to the annual fair to show their goods in many exhibition halls, shaped 200 football pitch.

In the homeware section, the firms displayed everything from washing machines to dryer, electric toothbrush to juicer and waffle makers. Buyers come from all over the world to see products for themselves and make a deal.

But the cost of a food mixer from China or a vacuum cleaner from China with the added tariff is now too much for most American firms to pass their customers at cost.

The world’s two largest economies have hit a deadlock and Chinese goods for American houses are accumulating on the factory floor.

This trade war will be felt the effects Kitchen and living rooms across AmericaNow these goods will have to be purchased at high prices.

China has maintained its stance and vowed to fight this trade war “until the end.”

It is also a tone used by some people in the fair. Hy Vian, who wanted to buy some electric oven for his firm, waved the effects of the tariff.

“If they don’t want us to export – then wait for them. We already have a domestic market in China, we will first give the best products to Chinese.”

China has a large population of 1.4 billion people and in principle it is a strong domestic market.

Chinese policy makers are also trying Stimulate greater growth in a dull economy By encouraging consumers to spend.

But it is not working. Many middle classes of the country have invested their savings in buying family houses, only to see the fall in their home prices in the last four years. Now they want to save money – don’t spend it.

While China can be better placed in a stormy season compared to other countries, the reality is that it is still an export-manual economy. Last year, exports were responsible for about half of the country’s economic development.

China also remains the world’s factory-Goldman Sachs estimates that around 10 to 20 million people in China are working on US-bound exports alone.

Some of those workers are already feeling pain.

Not far from the Canton Fair, Guangdong has heirs of workshops in making clothes, shoes and bags. It is a manufacturing center for companies like Shin and Temu.

Each building consists of several factories on several floors where workers will labor for 14 hours a day.

Some shoes on a pavement near factories, some workers were falling down to chat and smoke.

“Things are not going well,” one says, who was not ready to give his name. His friend urges him to stop talking. Discussing economic difficulties can be sensitive in China.

“We have problems since the Kovid epidemic, and now this is a trade war. I was paid 300-400 yuan ($ 40-54) a day, and now I will be lucky if I get 100 yuan in a day.”

The worker says that it is difficult to find work these days. Other people who made shoes on the road also tell us that they earned enough to live only a basic life.

While some in China are proud of their product, others feel the pain of the growing tariff and wonder how this crisis will end.

China is facing the possibility of losing a trading partner who buys more goods from $ 400BN (£ 302bn) every year, but Pain will also be felt on the other sideEconomists warned that the US could go for recession.

Adding to uncertainty is President Trump, who is known for his brinkmship. They have carried forward Beijing and China has refused to return.

However, Beijing has stated that it will not add more to the current 125% tariff rate on American goods. They could retaliate in other ways – but it offers some sides to a breathing room for a week that gave rise to an economic war.

Washington and Beijing allegedly have very little contact nor any side is ready to go to the conversation table soon.

Meanwhile, some companies in Canton Fair are using the event to try to find new markets.

Amy hopes that her ice cream manufacturer will head in a new direction.

“We hope to open the new European market. Perhaps Saudi Arabia – and of course Russia,” she says.

Others believe that money is still to be made in China. The 40 -year -old among them is Mei Kunai, who says that she is earning around 10,000 yuan in her shoe firm that sells to Chinese customers. Many major shoes manufacturers have moved to Vietnam where labor costs are cheaper.

Mr. Mei has also felt that the business around him is now searching: “Americans are very difficult.”