I feel sorry for everyday Americans because they are paying for the rising costs,” one vendor told News.
Yiwu, China — Hammers, hats, and hair clippers. Toys, technology, socks, baseball caps, and holiday decorations. If it is a low-cost manufactured product, it may have originated in Yiwu, China, the world’s largest wholesale market.
With 75,000 suppliers spread across six buildings, it was once a one-stop shop for American businesses of all sizes looking to buy low-cost goods and export them back to the United States.
Today, it is at the forefront of President Donald Trump’s trade war, and after he raised U.S. tariffs on Chinese-made goods from 10% to 145%, vendors told News on Wednesday that their once-reliable American customers have begun to put orders on hold or cancel them entirely.
Nicole Zhang and her husband, Huang Fangchao, whose Yiwu Dowell Accessories Co. produces hair accessories for major brands using machine-cut and hand-finished materials, stated that 60 to 70% of her 6 million pieces were destined for the United States.
However, as tariffs have risen, she says American clients such as Target have halted orders and placed two shipping containers full of her products on hold.
“They want to see what happens in the future,” she explained.
Trump stunned trading partners and global markets in early April by announcing a raft of “reciprocal” tariffs on imports from more than 180 countries. He then paused higher targeted tariffs for most countries for 90 days.
However, he did not include China, which was hit the hardest and has since imposed retaliatory tariffs of up to 125% on US imports.
The effects have already begun to be felt in Yiwu.
Chen Jinsai, a vendor selling press-on nails, stated that she did not anticipate shipping anything to the United States “in the first half of this year,” citing “export taxes that have gotten way too high.”
Goods that were ready to ship “just sat there,” she said, adding that customers had not asked them to bear tariff costs. “If I had to pay taxes, I would lose money. Our prices are already quite low, so the tax is something the customer must handle themselves,” she explained.
The wholesale market, which spans six buildings, houses 75,000 suppliers.
It is a 180-degree turn from last year, when the provincial development and reform commission in Yiwu’s Zhejiang district reported that the city’s total import and export value had reached 668.93 billion yuan ($91 billion), up 18.2% from the year before.
With US trade uncertain, some Yiwu traders said they were already looking into markets in other parts of the world, such as the Middle East and Asia.
Sock vendor Lou Jinling, meanwhile, stated that only about 10% of her business was in the United States, “so we are not heavily affected.”
“Since tariffs, some clients have asked me to help share the cost, but I will not because the margin is already very thin,” she said, adding that one of her American customers “told me he was able to clear out his warehouse stock as people were panic-buying from him.”
“For us, we can offset the losses by selling to other markets,” she explained. “But I feel sorry for everyday Americans, who are bearing the brunt of the rising costs.”
If it is a low-cost manufactured product, it is most likely available in Yiwu.
Vicky Eng, who said her clients in the United States have become “a lot more hesitant” since the tariffs were implemented, is one of those who may have to pay more to import into the country.
Eng, who flew in from Chicago with her sister Vivian Eng, 29, to source hair clips and other accessories for their company Adorro, said they sold them to American retailers primarily in the Midwest and Florida.
“We have not raised prices since the tariffs were announced because we do not want to preemptively raise prices if they are not necessary,” Eng, 30, explained.
Nonetheless, she stated that their clients were placing “much smaller volume orders.”
The majority of their customers were “relatively small businesses,” Eng explained, adding that since the tariffs were implemented, it had become “a little harder” for people to operate.
“The Chinese vendors were just like us,” she said. “They can’t have an empty store.”
