Wholesale fears in China's exports hub, US threats to cut off other markets loom

If you have ever bought a Christmas decoration, a button, an electric shaver, or any other cheap manufactured product, there is a good chance it came from Yiwu, a city in China's Zhejiang province that is home to the world's largest wholesale market.

- Amy Hawkins

Covering more than 4m sq metres, tens of thousands of suppliers have booths in Yiwu International Trade City. As the US and China threaten ever-higher tariffs, it is vendors at places such as Yiwu who are at the frontline of the new trade war.

Few in Yiwu are happy to hear about the new tariffs, but, having faced trade wars since at least 2018, many are well prepared to focus their business on trade with countries beyond the US.

Wang Guiying has been selling wholesale picture frames in Yiwu for 30 years. She says that fewer than 10% of her customers are in the US, a much smaller share than when she first set up shop. These days, most of her buyers are from the Middle East.

"Now business is getting harder," she says. "The margins are very tight, and we're working with minimal profit. It's tiring to do business, but you can't stop."

Her few US customers are "slowly reducing their orders".