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STORY: “Adding a 50% tariff won’t impact us much."Chinese toy trader Zeng Hao says new tariffs from U.S. President Donald Trump don’t bother him."First of all, our product is a high-profit product. For example, if I sell it here for 5 yuan, the wholesalers may give consumers a price of 15 or 20 yuan, because this is standard pricing in the U.S. Even if a tariff adds 2.5 yuan to a 5 yuan toy, the impact on the end consumer isn’t too significant."Zeng's Jinqi Toys is in a massive market complex in the eastern city of Yiwu.Yiwu is the world's largest hub for selling small products wholesale.Everything from costume jewelry to Christmas decorations are sold here.He says the U.S. accounts for about 80% of his exports.Still, he’s not fazed by Trump’s tariffs and other moves against China.“The United States' unpredictability... well, we’re okay with it. It’s whatever. We have no choice."Trump promised 60% tariffs on Chinese goods during his campaign.But he revised that down to 10% after taking office.He also plans to cancel duty-free treatment of low-cost packages from China under the so-called ‘de minimis’ rule.That loophole lets parcels worth less than $800 dollars enter the U.S. tax-free.“Whatever they say, we just follow. If they cancel small parcel shipments, then our customers will switch to shipping by containers, right?”Cheng Haodong is Chairman of Beisi Group, which sells a range of items from clothes to toiletries.He told Reuters that they had already made preparations to soften the blow.“Before Trump took office, we predicted he would be elected. So what should we do after Trump comes to power? We gathered information from various reports, as well as on platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Based on that, we made strategic adjustments for the company in advance. It’s not about reacting immediately when a policy is announced. By then, it would be too late to adapt.”Trump's moves have reignited fear of a full-blown trade war escalating between the world’s two largest economies.China is preparing its own counter-tariffs of up to 15% on some U.S. goods.Abby Jin buys products in Yiwu on behalf of her international customers in markets including the United States.She told Reuters that vendors in the city were not short of orders."We can respond by slightly reducing our profit margins or adjusting costs. In the end, the additional costs will be passed on to the end consumers in their country, meaning they will ultimately bear the consequences of their own economic policies."“For the U.S., whether they can find a suitable country to replace us as a trade partner is a question they need to consider themselves."
