China said they have already assigned a special ambassador for trade talk and waiting for US to assign one man to talk with. Trump said it will be compromised in 3 to 4 weeks. Hang on! In the election campaign he said several times that Ukraine War can end within 24 hours, but later said 100 days. So this 3 to 4 weeks should be at least double, triple or quadruple less be disappointed.
However, unrestricted warfare on tariff has already started. Because a lot of goods are suspended in the shipping yard and cannot export, so large amount of advertisement of warehouse sales are shown in TikTok, claiming that they are the original manufacturer of famous sportswear and luxury handbags etc. This direct sales is just 5% of the retail price in US, so even if paid 145% still much cheaper. They use the brand name of local Chinese brand and not the worldwide famous brand, so there is a grey area in imitation products.
The matured brand names explained that they only delegated part of the manufacturing process in China and when shipped to EU or US would have significant changes on the finished product. Now they are classified as “A grade” imitation products so consumers hard to tell the true from false. Actually, they are two different brands but similar appearance. This will be a common scene during the transition period of negotiation and one of the effective way of China to fight against the tariff war.
Besides this, because of the 145% tariff and individual products up to 245%, even some still 0%, a lot of products are unable to export and other countries cannot digest all of them at once. Grand sales in major cities of China are easily seen at an unbelievable low price which made people surprised. The direct sales of China to US is just 15%, not so great, but when counting the origin laundering through Mexico, Vietnam and ASEAN countries, the total share may be near 40%. If the manufacturer wants to throw them way, still need some cost for handling, so they better cut the price as low as can be. This scene would not last long, but should cover the next few weeks and we have to observe precisely what is happening.