【Epoch Times, September 29, 2025】 Zhejiang Yiwu is a well-known small commodity trading center in China and an important supplier to China’s cross-border e-commerce platforms. In the past, many small commodities produced in Yiwu were exported to the United States, and the market here was bustling. However, this summer, the market in Yiwu surprisingly quietened down.
According to a report by financial website CNBC, Mr. Li, a seller of sponges and cleaning products, disclosed that it’s not the peak season for foreign buyers now. His customers come from the Middle East and Southeast Asia, rather than the United States.
Mr. Li refused to reveal his full name, stating that the impact of tariffs is not significant. But he hinted that factories in his home province of Guangdong have been hit harder.
Taiwan’s TVBS special envoy reporter, Cai Yijie, visited Yiwu International Trade City and found over 900,000 shops there, with about 3,000 participating in trade with the United States. The owner of a cashmere scarf shop mentioned that their store focuses on the mid-to-high-end market and used to have up to 70% of products sold to the U.S., but now orders are only 30% of the same period last year, resulting in heavy losses. The store owner expressed helplessness, saying, “Because the goods haven’t been sent out, we can’t collect the payment. It’s like our money is trapped inside, and when new orders come, we need to invest more money, so the challenge for us is quite significant!”
After on-site investigation, CNBC reported that at the end of August, when the summer vacation in China was about to end, Yiwu was strangely quiet, with more children than buyers.
It’s obvious that the customer base of Yiwu merchants has changed. CNBC reporters found on-site that there are increasingly more signs in Arabic, Korean, or Russian, rather than the usual English and Chinese. In one building, most of the scarf shops that used to sell scarves were now selling Arabic headscarves (hijabs).
Ashish Monga, the founder and CEO of IMEX Sourcing Services, told CNBC that Yiwu’s exports to the United States have dropped from about 20% eight years ago to 15% last year, and even lower now.
The decline in Yiwu’s exports to the U.S. reflects a nationwide decline in exports. According to CNBC’s analysis of Wind Information’s official data, as of July, China’s exports to the U.S. had decreased by 12% year-on-year, while exports to the top ten economies in the Middle East during the same period had increased by 13%.
Monga explained that due to many of Yiwu’s products not meeting EU compliance standards, it has limited companies’ sales to Europe. On the other hand, to address orders from Latin America, local officials in Yiwu support businesses in setting up Spanish language courses.
But this is not just a problem of replacing U.S. orders.
Monga said, “If you lose a major U.S. client, in emerging markets, you need about five clients to make the same profit, which is like doing twice the work for less money.”
As of July this year, China’s total exports to the U.S. reached $251.4 billion, far higher than $116.5 billion to the Middle East. Meanwhile, Beijing has also increased exports to Europe and Southeast Asia. Official data shows that Southeast Asia is currently China’s largest regional trading partner. As of July, China’s exports to Africa had increased by 24% year-on-year.
Currently, the U.S. imposes tariffs of around 55% on most Chinese goods, still much higher than the 25% tariffs during Trump’s first term.
The latest research from Bloomberg Economics shows that the profitability of Chinese companies is mostly lower than similar U.S. companies, and due to the tariffs imposed by President Trump weakening demand, exporters’ profitability faces further risks.
On the other hand, new fees imposed on Chinese-manufactured cargo ships arriving in the U.S. (even if these ships are not owned by China) will take effect on October 14, with these fees potentially amounting to millions of dollars.