China's e-commerce giants are putting up a fight

China's e-commerce players are perhaps the most exposed to the trade war, the exception to arguments that the country's tech sector will be able to weather the storm.

- Bloomberg

If President Donald Trump's tariffs hold, it would be devastating for the business models of PDD Holdings' Temu, Shein, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s international retailers, and the thousands of small Chinese companies making goods for export. But the levies have galvanized them to support each other in unprecedented ways. And Americans have simultaneously shown an unwillingness to let their access to cheap imports go.

Chinese tech giants are working to help exporters find buyers in the domestic market. JD.com Inc. said earlier this month that it would purchase at least 200 billion yuan ($27.4 billion) of goods from exporters over the next year and help sell them at home. PDD pledged to invest 100 billion yuan to help its sellers pivot to local consumers. Alibaba's supermarket chain launched a new channel for firms looking to sell at home. Internet giant Baidu Inc. pledged free advertising services for a million companies.

Even companies not immediately exposed to tariffs, such as ride-hailing app DiDi Global Inc. or internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd., have joined the crusade.