Chinese find the going tough in new markets

Salespeople facing unforeseen problems

- CLAIRE FU ELLEN ZHANG

A worker is seen next to the Maersk's Triple-E giant container ship Majestic Maersk at Yangshan Port in Shanghai in 2016.

(REUTERS)

China sold more goods to the world than ever in 2025, but export saleswoman Aimee Chen says it was the hardest of her roughly two-decade career.

After US President Donald Trump's tariff hikes led to US orders plunging by a third, Ms Chen’s pet products company moved to diversify geographies, chasing new and often lowerincome markets like South America. The response mirrored China's official trade policy, which led to a record $1.2 trillion surplus for 2025 despite new trade barriers.

Reuters interviews with 14 salespeople working on the frontlines of China's export diversification push, however, reveal the costs and caveats behind the rosy headline trade figures.

Four of the salespeople said that orders from the new markets were often smaller in volume and less lucrative than US sales, resulting in lower commissions and pay. Government data show profits at China's industrial firms fell 13.1% year-on-year in November, the fastest pace in over a year.

Many of the employees also described longer working hours as well as greater intensity and uncertainty amid the export boom. “I’m very anxious,’ said Ms Chen, adding that she had recently experienced stress symptoms like hair loss and insomnia.

Mingwei Liu, director at the Center for Global Work and Employment at Rutgers University, said that China's export strategy in alternative markets depended on firms chasing high volumes of cheap orders. Companies that succeed often give clients longer payment cycles and bear higher default risks, he said.