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'This is so hard': The Chinese small businesses brought to a standstill by Trump's tariffs
BBC News ^ | April 16, 2025 | by Laura Bicker

Posted on 04/16/2025 4:02:45 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer

"Trump is a crazy man," says Lionel Xu, who is surrounded by his company's mosquito repellent kits – many were once best sellers in Walmart stores in the United States.

Now those products are sitting in boxes in a warehouse in China and will remain there unless President Donald Trump lifts his 145% tariffs on all Chinese goods bound for the US.

"This is so hard for us," he adds.

Around half of all products made by his company Sorbo Technology are sold to the US.

It is a small company by Chinese standards and has around 400 workers in Zhejiang province. But they are not alone in feeling the pain of this economic war.

"We are worried. What if Trump doesn't change his mind? That will be a dangerous thing for our factory," says Mr Xu.

Nearby, Amy is helping to sell ice cream makers at her booth for the Guangdong Sailing Trade Company. Her key buyers, including Walmart, are also in the US.

"We have stopped production already," she says. "All the products are in the warehouse."

Amy hopes her ice cream makers will head in a new direction.

"We hope to open the new European market. Maybe Saudi Arabia - and of course Russia," she adds.

(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...


TOPICS: China; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: china; laurabicker; mi64chicoms; mi6propaganda; tariffs
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To: OldHarbor

He was also number 2 son in the Charlie Chan movies...


81 posted on 04/16/2025 10:45:13 AM PDT by packrat35 (Pureblood! No clot shot for me!)
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To: DAC21

His last movie was The Man With Bogart’s Face. I liked it.


82 posted on 04/16/2025 10:46:48 AM PDT by packrat35 (Pureblood! No clot shot for me!)
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To: DAC21

His father was actually from China, so he probably picked up a little from that.


83 posted on 04/16/2025 10:48:00 AM PDT by packrat35 (Pureblood! No clot shot for me!)
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To: FLT-bird
The above being said, our first priorities MUST be on taking care of OUR people and looking after OUR national security.

Absolutely correct. Tariffs hurt us in the short term because of a lack of experienced workers for creating goods here, but we can learn. Tariffs are not bad from an economic standpoint, because the percentage of Tariff increases are on unfinished goods by importers, and middlemen and final retailers tack on increases. A 50% tariff might result in a 15% increase on the final retail price, and some or all of that increase can be absorbed by middlemen and retailers. The big change is on goods under $800 value that were allowed exemptions, and many of those goods can easily be manufactured in the USA.

84 posted on 04/16/2025 11:31:39 AM PDT by roadcat ( )
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To: rlmorel

I’ll take another look and read it in its entirety later when I have time. It was a passage which jumped out at me.

See

https://freerepublic.com/focus/news/4311254/posts?page=31#31


85 posted on 04/16/2025 11:34:11 AM PDT by logi_cal869 (-cynicus the "concern troll" a/o 10/03/2018 /!i!! &@$%&*(@ -)
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To: logi_cal869

Not a problem at all, FRiend...I liked your response.

This is an enormous problem-allowing people with sympathies to the CCP, direct ties to the CCP, or being outright agents of them, to work anywhere in our industrial base, green card or otherwise. They shouldn’t be in our institutions of learning, and especially not where there is any kind of research going on.

I would say I have concerns about all people who are 1st generation “Americans” of Chinese extraction anywhere, but I can’t say that. I know enough people who have emigrated from China, have their citizenship here, and are wholly against the CCP. We have a married couple of Chinese extraction on our Republican Town Committee, and another whose father was persecuted by the Communists back in the early Sixties, and I view them as being American as I am.

So I won’t say that. But being in sensitive areas such as the military, anyone with direct ties to China as a 1st gen immigrant has to have a rubber glove exam.

The thing is...being a shame based asian culture, they have painted themselves into a corner. We hold the cards, as I said in my post, because they are dependent on us buying from them. If we don’t buy from them...it is going to hurt them in the long run more than it will hurt us.


86 posted on 04/16/2025 11:47:36 AM PDT by rlmorel ("A people that elect corrupt politicians are not victims...but accomplices." George Orwell)
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To: FLT-bird
I just separate the predatory, dictatorial, cheating, stealing, CCP from the average people in China. The latter are stuck living under the tyranny of the CCP and have no choice.

While they definitely live in an unfortunate situation, do remember that their cultural values are different from ours. Even without the CCP, they don't just suddenly turn into Americans.
87 posted on 04/16/2025 12:37:43 PM PDT by Svartalfiar (-)
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To: kvanbrunt2
Pretty much.

...But what is this?!


http://www.sorbo.cn/statics/images/product-index_06.jpg
88 posted on 04/16/2025 12:42:49 PM PDT by Svartalfiar (-)
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To: HIDEK6
He stole that product from an American entrepreneur who researched it and created the market for it.

There is no doubt. Does China have any original products in the last 100 years?
89 posted on 04/16/2025 12:45:33 PM PDT by Svartalfiar (-)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Cry me a river.

No one gave a damn about our businesses in the early to mid
90s and since.


90 posted on 04/16/2025 2:03:26 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (I pledge allegence to the flag of te USofA & to the Constitutional REPUBLIC for which it stands. )
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