Economics
China Exporters Reel as U.S. Tariffs Imperil World’s Supply Hub
- UBS downgrades estimate for 2019 growth to 6.2% from 6.4%
- Citigroup says China to lose 2.1 million jobs in 2 to 3 years
Exports to the U.S account for around a fifth of China’s total.
Photographer: VCG/Getty Images
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“I’m lost and perplexed,” said Chinese furniture maker Ben Yang as he reeled Friday from news that U.S. tariffs on his products were hiked to 25% from 10%. “We probably have to switch to making something else or shut down altogether.”
Furniture makers like Yang’s Sunrise Furniture Co., based in the industrial heartland of Dongguan in southern China, already had wafer-thin profit margins after years battling rising labor and other costs. A Bloomberg Economics analysis of almost 1,000 companies in major export sectors found "not many" can survive tariffs of 25%.