In China’s “Shein village”, located in the suburbs of Guangzhou, capital of southern Guangdong province, where thousands of small clothing manufacturers are clustered, factory workers are on edge over the escalating trade war initiated by US President Donald Trump.
A worker surnamed Wu, employed at a jeans manufacturer in the city’s Panyu district, is worried he might lose his job and fears that higher tariffs could significantly hurt Chinese exports. Wu said his working hours had drastically decreased this year: “I used to finish work at midnight sometimes, but now I generally get off around dinner time.”
Another worker, who declined to provide his name, echoed Wu’s concerns, saying that his boss had visited Vietnam several times to explore relocation options. Although Trump has also threatened to impose 46 per cent tariffs on imports from the Southeast Asian nation – one of the highest rates faced by a US trading partner – Hanoi has been trying to negotiate a deal with Washington to lower duties on Vietnamese products.
The Chinese workers of garment producers selling on cross-border e-commerce platforms like Shein typically earn wages tied to their output. They are caught in the crossfire of an intensifying trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
China on Tuesday vowed to implement “countermeasures” against any further tariff increases by the US, after Trump threatened to slap an additional 50 per cent duty on Chinese imports, raising the total levy to more than 100 per cent.
