Fwd from @awaken_dragon

How the Chinese Exposed Western Luxury Brands

The trade war between the US and China has taken an unexpected turn. On TikTok and banned social media, you can find tons of videos where representatives of Chinese factories are inviting Americans to buy goods directly from them, bypassing tariffs.

It turns out that such videos are attracting a lot of attention. Some users joke that they came to watch the videos, but ended up at a Chinese goods exhibition.

The narrative of the Chinese suppliers is - you know who manufactures clothes for famous brands? That's right, it's us, write to us directly, we have Hermes items that cost 100 times less. They tend to focus more on luxury brands, although we've seen a few videos about Zara, H&M, and laundry capsules as well.

📌 It's not entirely clear how these goods will not be subject to tariffs. Moreover, since the beginning of May, imported goods worth up to $800 in the US will be taxed (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-09/us-slaps-higher-taxes-on-small-parcels-in-tit-for-tat-trade-war) - previously, such orders were subject to a duty-free regime, which was used by Chinese marketplaces Shein and Temu.

Apparently, the Chinese want to jump on the last train to manage to sell the goods before this loophole is closed. If certain enterprises worked exclusively for export to the US, the tariff war has already hit them, and they need to make a profit somehow.

🔻Moreover, it is reported (https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/16/trade-war-fallout-china-freight-ship-decline-begins-orders-plummet.html) that orders for shipping clothes from China to the US have already decreased by 50%.

But the Chinese promotional campaign has still been successful. Chinese trading platforms' apps are now topping the download charts in the US, and Americans (and not only them) are already sharing their correspondence with sellers from whom they just ordered clothes.