Candice Li, marketing manager at Conmo Electronic Co., didn’t mince words: orders for the company’s medical devices from the U.S. have all but vanished. The reason, she said, is the 145% tariff hike recently imposed by Washington on Chinese goods.
“It’s a matter of life and death, you could say. About 60% to 70% of our business comes from U.S. clients, so the pressure we’re under is enormous,” Li said from her company’s booth at the Canton Fair, China’s largest trade exhibition.
Li expressed concern over a prolonged deadlock in negotiations between the U.S. and China. “What we fear most is a stalemate where neither side gives in. In the end, it’s ordinary people like us who suffer. And once salaries stop being paid, unemployment becomes a real issue,” she added.
Held twice a year in the southern city of Guangzhou, the Canton Fair hosts over 30,000 exhibitors and spans an area larger than 200 football fields. This is the first edition since U.S. President Donald Trump announced tariffs exceeding 100% on Chinese goods, and at least 10% on imports from the rest of the world.
Many exporters interviewed by Reuters at the event said U.S. orders—crucial to their businesses—have been delayed or canceled. This is a worrying sign for the world’s second-largest economy, whose growth in 2024 relied heavily on a trade surplus of one trillion dollars.
No other country comes close to matching China’s export volume to the U.S., which exceeds $400 billion annually.
In response, companies like Dongguan Weidi Information Tech Co. Ltd. are looking to diversify their markets. “Many of our suppliers are already turning to Russia, and we’re also considering it,” said sales director Xiong Meilin.
Others are already feeling the immediate effects. “Since the tariff policy changes this month, some of our U.S. clients have suspended their payment plans,” said Amy Ye, a staff member at a booth selling arcade machines.
Although Trump’s tariffs on other countries are lower than those on China, they are still expected to dampen global demand in the coming months, indirectly weakening appetite for Chinese products.
U.S. importer Levy Spence, president of Air Esscentials, was browsing scented products at the fair but wasn’t planning any purchases. “Every day I wake up, it feels like there’s a new tariff,” he said. “Prices in our industry are rising across the board. Even products we source in the U.S. rely on raw materials from all over the world. So it’s not just China—it’s tariffs everywhere.”
According to organizers, around 170,000 foreign buyers had registered for this month’s fair as of April 8, down from the record 253,000 attendees in the previous edition held in November. Only 10% of them came from the U.S. and Europe, compared to 20% last time.
The fair runs from April 15 to May 5. The previous edition generated $25 billion in transactions, according to local media.
