China’s Biggest Trade Fair Exposes Risks to Economy if Iran War Drags On

Hello, this is Allen Wan at the Canton Fair in Guangzhou.

The specter of the Iran war hung heavy like the banners inside the gigantic exhibition halls of the country’s oldest and biggest trade show this week.

The bi-annual fair in the southern city offered an ominous glimpse of how the US-Israel war against Iran is dimming the outlook for an economy that remains dependent on manufacturing and exports for growth. Some exporters said orders are drying up due to fewer visitors from the key Middle East market. One businessman who did make it — Egyptian Abdul Rahman El Sharqawy — said he’d struggled to find flights as the war has led to skyrocketing fares.

In recent years, fewer visitors have been coming from the US and Europe — first due to the pandemic and then because of US tariffs — but they’d been replaced by customers from the Middle East and Africa.