In a true market, when that shelf is empty....you will fill it. In this case, no one is stopping Chinese products from entering. They are simply saying that as you import the item, you will pay more for it, and the price on the shelf will reflect that. Either the customer will that price (sending tax revenue from the import to the US government), or they will seek a cheaper-made product (maybe from the US, Mexico, Brazil, or even India).
I don’t see the issue here. Maybe China told Wal-Mart and Target some woeful tale, but no one has stopped their products. It’ll be at the shelf where people decide....is that a reasonable price or not.
Umm... Slight change there, Wal-Mart & Target pay the import tax, the consumer then gets the decision if the price is right or not, and should the consumer think the price is wrong, they don’t buy whatever trinket it is on the shelf.
Since much of this is impulse purchases or clothing, Wal-Mart & Target rightly believe that they’re going to sell less trinkets. The obvious solution is to buy fewer trinkets to sell, or find a different source that doesn’t have the taxes they are concerned with.
Either way, it’s over junk few really need. The only real impact will be on clothing, and even then, the import duties won’t affect the price that much compared to the markup that the retailers already collect. Meanwhile, competitors in other countries will try to push their products forward that don’t come with the duties - and that’s China’s real problem - what happens if the retailers form relationships with other countries and don’t come back?