Chinese exporters are heartened by lower US tariffs following a summit between leaders of the two economic superpowers Thursday, but say they’re still keen to hedge exposure to any future setbacks in bilateral trade ties.
Bloomberg
For buyers and sellers alike of consumer goods in the US, the risks of relying solely on China for production for everything from fast fashion to holiday ornaments have begun to outweigh the country’s edge as a low-cost production hub.
Even with the trade truce, US retailers aren’t likely to reconsider plans to move supply chains out of China and Chinese manufacturers are committed to expanding exports to markets beyond the US to limit their vulnerability.
“The tariff cut buys us more time,” said Huang Lun, sales manager at a Guangzhou-based retailer that sells underwear and yoga pants through online retailers including Amazon.com Inc., Shein Group Ltd. and PDD Holdings Inc.’s Temu.
While American buyers made up 80% of his company’s total annual sales last year, Huang’s firm initially sought to lower that dependence on the US to just 20% with growth in other markets. An unexpected surge of sales before tariffs kicked in upended that goal this year, but shifting away from the US is “the only way to reduce trade risks for the long term,” he said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump announced the trade détente after their highly anticipated meeting in South Korea. As part of their agreement to ease tensions, the Associated Press reported Thursday the US agreed to lower tariffs on Chinese imports to 47%, down from 57% previously — and well below a threatened 157% levy.
While that’s higher than the rate US has levied on other Asian nations such as Vietnam at 20%, Chinese exporters say that production at home is more competitive due to China’s established manufacturing eco-system and skilled workers.
Several Chinese exporters Bloomberg News spoke with were optimistic the improved trade relations will result in an uptick in order flow between the world’s largest economies, bolstering profitability for businesses that have been squeezed by US tariffs of more than 50% in recent months on imports from China.
“We are going to get better deals with US clients,” said Andre Huang, a sales manager working for a firm selling household cleaning products like mops from Ningbo, an export base in eastern China.
The company’s expansion in the US has been stalled by the high tariffs imposed earlier in the year, but Huang noted things have started to brighten up lately amid growing expectations for a breakthrough at the Trump-Xi summit. He said more American clients showed up for a trade fair currently being held in Guangzhou than did for a similar event just a few months ago.
Yet the prospect of more business in the US no longer excites Chinese exporters as it once did. Many said they’ve learned their lessons from Trump’s trade brinkmanship and now realize they can’t rely solely on access to the world’s biggest consumer market.
The push into markets beyond the US already is evident in China’s trade data. The country is on track for a record $1.2 trillion trade surplus this year as shipments to Europe, Africa and other parts of Asia offset a slump in exports to the US.
At the same time, many buyers in the US have begun to rethink their dependence on a China-based sourcing strategy. They’re asking suppliers to set up manufacturing operations outside of China, even if it means higher costs and lower efficiencies in the near term.
For Lin Qian, who runs factories making toys in both the southern China boomtown of Shenzhen and in Vietnam, the lower US levies mean his Chinese factories will continue to handle the bulk of orders from US clients in the near term. But longer-term, he sees a shift away from China to steer clear of further disruption.
“Both us and our clients are clear the diversification pace won’t change as the China-US relationship is still tricky,” he said.
Establishing a production facility in nearby Vietnam is non-negotiable for a company that counts US toy brands for three-quarters of its revenue. Those clients, who Lin wouldn’t specify, threatened to stop placing orders altogether earlier this year unless he moved more production to the Southeast Asian country.
Production at Lin’s toymaking factory in Vietnam finally kicked off in September, three months later than expected. “Challenges are obvious.” he said, adding “we really have to leave our comfort zone.”
Having factories both at home and abroad has provided more of a sense of security for many China-based exporters.
“We’re no longer afraid of ups and downs in tariff rates,” said Barry Shan, whose company currently makes holiday ornaments for Walmart Inc. at its factory in eastern Chinese province Zhejiang. He will soon do the same at a new plant in Cambodia.
Even Chinese exporters who still want to maintain the US as their primary market, diversifying production outside of China is viewed as essential to staying competitive.
“Everybody is diversifying,” said Shanghai-based freight forwarder Keven Chen. “It’s now an industry consensus that US market can’t just rely on China’s supply chain, while Chinese manufacturers can’t merely count on the US market.”
An Hermes handbag that once belonged to Jane Birkin was sold for $2.86 million (2.45 million euros) at auction in Abu Dhabi on Friday, just months after the record-breaking sale of her first bag from the French brand, Sotheby’s said.
Jane Birkin with one of her signature Hermes bags – Sotheby’s
Hermes first created the design for the British singer and actress in 1984 and it has gone on to become a modern and highly prized classic, sought by fashionistas the world over. The first prototype was sold for 8.58 million euros ($10 million) at a Sotheby’s auction in Paris in July, smashing previous price records for a handbag.
The one sold on Friday was a ‘Birkin Voyageur,’ which was gifted to the former wife of French singing legend Serge Gainsbourg in 2003. The final sale price was around six times times higher than the estimated price range of $230,000-$430,000 given before the sale.
“Jane Birkin’s handbag legacy continues to captivate collectors,” Sotheby’s said in a statement sent to AFP, adding that bidding took place over 11 minutes between six collectors. The new owner was a phone buyer and has not been identified.
The handbag was one of four owned by the late celebrity, who used to sell them to raise money for charitable causes. It has a handwritten inscription in French inside from Birkin that reads: “My Birkin bag, my globetrotting companion.”
A third Hermes bag owned by Birkin is set to go under the hammer on December 15 at the Hotel Drouot auction house in Paris. It was entrusted by the late star to her friend and biographer Gabrielle Crawford, who is selling it to help fund the future Jane Birkin Foundation, Drouot said in a statement.
Produced in very limited numbers, the modern Birkin bag manufactured by Hermes has maintained an aura of exclusivity and is beloved by celebrities such as the Kardashians, Jennifer Lopez, and Victoria Beckham. The most expensive fashion item ever sold at auction was a pair of ruby red slippers worn by actor Judy Garland from The Wizard of Oz in 1939, which sold for $32.5 million in 2024 in Dallas, Texas, according to Sotheby’s.
Artificial intelligence (AI) continues its march to transform businesses’/consumers’ lives with customer advocacy platform Mention Me launching ‘AI Discovery IQ’, a free-to-use tool that “helps brands reach target consumers in the new age of generative AI search”.
Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP/Archives
It claims to allow brands to “instantly audit how discoverable they are within popular AI systems” such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity.
According to Mention Me, 62% of UK consumers now turn to generative AI tools for product recommendations, brand discovery and comparisons, “bypassing traditional search engines entirely [so] businesses are under pressure to respond to this behaviour change,” said the platform’s CEO Wojtek Kokoszka whose platform works with firms including Charlotte Tilbury, Huel and Puma, “helping marketing teams to boost consumer awareness and sales”.
With AI, it says the modern customer journey, powered by natural language prompts instead of outdated keyword strings, means consumers are 4.4 times more likely to convert if they find a brand through a large language model (LLM).
“The rise of ‘agent-mode’ assistants and AI-driven voice search has pushed brands into a new world of digital visibility. Despite this, most brands have little to no insight into how they appear in AI-generated answers”, said Kokoszka.
AI Discoverability IQ claims to give brands an overall LLM discoverability score, specific details on areas such as technical website elements, content and structured data, and actionable recommendations to improve their AI discoverability.
Its tool generates “measurable, trackable outputs” like AI Visibility Score, brands’ prompt-based results, and a side-by-side comparisons with their competitive set. This means brands “can react quickly to improve their discoverability scores” with Mention Me’s wider suite of products and unique first-party data.
It’s also “innovating and evolving” its platform to include more capabilities, such as the ability to benchmark against competitors, to drive further improvements for marketing leaders in the age of AI.
Mention Me CMO Neha Mantri said: “AI Discoverability is not yet a named practice within most marketing teams; the same way SEO wasn’t in the early 2000s. But when up to 31% of consumers say they’re more likely to trust responses from generative AI than traditional search results, this needs to change. Mention Me is naming the problem and providing a solution at just the right time.”
A host of celebrities and high-end brands have donating goods to ensure Savile Row’s latest annual ‘Pop-Up Crisis’ store will continue to support the Crisis charity event that has so far raised over £650,000 since 2018.
Image: Crisis charity
Across 8-13 December, the pop-up store at 18-19 Savile Row in London’s Mayfair will sell a curated selection of designer clothing, past stock and samples from luxury brands.
Celebs donating goods include Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Naomie Harris, David Gandy, Jarvis Cocker, Louis Partridge, Jamie Redknapp and Emma Corrin, among others, for a week-long event and raffle with all proceeds going to help end homelessness across Britain.
Hosted by landlord The Pollen Estate, the temporary shop is also selling designer goods donated by Savile Row tailors including Mr Porter, Wales Bonner, Crockett & Jones and many other luxury brands from Barbour, Tod’s to Manolo Blahnik and Watches of Switzerland Group.
This year, celebrity model and fashion entrepreneur David Gandy will also be curating an exclusive online edit on shopfromcrisis.com, including donations from his own wardrobe as well as items from friends including Redknapp’s brand Sandbanks, Hackett and Aspinal of London.
Gandy said: “Having supported Crisis for a number of years, I’m delighted to have had the opportunity to curate my own online edit this year with the help of some of my close friends. It means a lot to know that donations from my own wardrobe are going towards such an important cause. Whether you’re looking for the perfect Christmas gift or to treat yourself, your purchase can help make a real difference to people facing homelessness this Christmas.”
Liz Choonara, executive director of Commerce and Enterprise at Crisis, added: “Pop-Up Crisis is such an iconic event in the Crisis calendar and one that we look forward to every year. We’re thrilled to be partnering with the team once again for another week celebrating the iconic craftsmanship and style of Savile Row – with all proceeds going towards our crucial work to end homelessness.”
Politics8 years ago