Chinese warehouses are persuading Americans to buy China-made dupes to offset tariff costs
As the two largest economies in the world — the United States and China — continue to spar over tariffs, the escalating trade war is spurring some Americans to favor Chinese goods in ways they never did before.
As the two largest economies in the world — the United States and China — continue to spar over tariffs, the escalating trade war is spurring some Americans to favor Chinese goods in ways they never did before.
President Donald Trump has said his sweeping tariffs around the globe are aimed at bringing manufacturing back to American shores. But as he continues to target China with his highest tariff yet, now at 145%, some Americans online say they are flocking to Chinese manufacturing rather than away from it.
“What do American companies think we’re gonna do? We’re gonna pay their prices rather than Chinese prices, when I can get a thousand times more product for the same price as we get here?” a TikTok user said in a video that got more than 16.5 million views. “We’re not gonna do that.”
Since Friday, videos on TikTok from Chinese manufacturers have drawn millions of views touting a wide variety of goods — including some making questionable claims about their roles in producing high-priced luxury items that say they’re made in Europe. Others tout dupes, or replicas, of common brand-name items that they say are of the same or similar quality.
The videos come as the United States imposes high tariffs on China and plans to close a trade loophole, called de minimis, that allows shipments under $800 to enter the country without taxes. Domestic and international discontent over Trump’s trade policy has spilled over into the internet, where artificial intelligence videos that appear to show Americans working in factories and various other memes have flourished.
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