The tariff war is driving Chinese private enterprises to the brink of collapse.

Due to the CCP's retaliatory measures, the United States has raised tariffs on China to 245%. What is the impact on Chinese enterprises? Our reporter interviewed private business owners in many places. Shenzhen's import and export scale last year was 4.5 trillion yuan, ranking first among China's foreign trade cities. Mr. An, a second-hand car owner in Shenzhen, revealed that the local area is now affected by the tariff war. Mr. An, a second-hand car owner in Shenzhen, it is very serious. All industries are depressed and people are living in poverty. Reporter, have many factories closed down? Mr. An, not only factories, but also sales, catering, factories, production, processing, service industries, massage parlors, pharmaceuticals and business, etc. All industries are depressed. The import and export scale of Zhejiang province exceeded 5 trillion yuan for the first time last year. Among them, Yiwu is known as the global trade hub for small commodities. Local factory owners said that the impact of the tariff war is very large. Mr. Fan, the boss of a Yiwu factory, Our Yiwu, Zhejiang, basically has no orders, no foreign trade orders. The impact is very big. Those who are engaged in foreign trade are affected too much and all have to close down. Those who are not exporting are definitely affected too. They are also affected. Last year, the total import and export value of Yiwu city was 668.93 billion yuan, of which nearly 90% were exports. The United States has always been one of the core markets for Yiwu's exports. The orders from the United States for Christmas products, daily necessities, textiles, etc. are large in volume and stable in cycle, which is the basis for the survival of Yiwu enterprises. Mr. Fan, our foreign trade in Yiwu, Zhejiang has basically stopped now, because it is all exported to the United States. If it is all exported to the United States, it will be directly affected, right? We are the most affected place, plus the place with the greatest impact. The impact is too great. Reporter. Are there more pessimistic or optimistic people in your place? Mr. Fan. Well, there are more pessimistic people, definitely more pessimistic people. Guangdong is also a major foreign trade province, with foreign trade imports and exports of 9.11 trillion yuan last year. The local factory owner said that the tariff war has made the business environment more and more inward-looking. Mr. Li, the owner of the aluminum door and window factory in Foshan, Guangdong. Those factories that used to do exports are now consuming domestically and fighting price wars in China. The current tariffs are so severe that there is no reason to sit and wait for those workers to take a holiday, right? I estimate that if the tariffs are not changed in the second half of this year, the internal consumption will definitely be particularly serious. This is a year of big reshuffles this year. Pindu City, Qingdao, Shandong Province is the world's largest producer of beauty eyelashes. The involution caused by the tariff war has caused some businesses to stop working. Zhao Song, the owner of a beauty eyelash factory in Pindu City. Recently, it has been particularly curled. The domestic market is too curled. Now it is particularly worrying. You said that the factory has invested 1 or 2 million. Now there is no benefit. It has been in a state of suspension for the past week. Before the tariff war broke out, China's economy had already fallen into a serious recession. Real estate industry giants broke their capital chains and defaulted on their debts, leading to a financial crisis. In 2022, several village banks in Henan and Anhui suddenly stopped depositors from withdrawing money. Wang Peng, a private enterprise owner in Guangdong, is one of the victims. The tariff war has made things worse for them. Wang Peng, a private enterprise owner in Guangdong. The deposits of our depositors in village banks in Henan and Anhui have been illegally frozen. We have no way to consume, let alone invest. We can only rely on constantly pulling such export orders to sell to developed countries such as the United States, Europe, and Japan. However, due to the impact of the tariff trade war, many private enterprises have no way to operate such orders, because after all, our products are mainly sold to Europe and the United States. The CCP claims that the confidence to hardline with the United States is the huge domestic demand market, multiple trading partners, and so-called institutional advantages. However, for private enterprises that mainly rely on exports, these are just empty slogans. Wang Peng. If the trade war continues, it will be a huge blow to our private enterprises, because we have to sell what we produce, but who should we sell it to? Only developed countries and rich countries will buy things. For example, in poor places like Africa, even if we produce, they can't afford it. If exports are converted to domestic sales, its retail price will also face a sharp drop, and then the company will not be able to operate. You also know that domestic consumption is now in arrears. Many companies are laying off employees, including civil servants' salaries. Without money, where will consumption come from? So, consumption has collapsed. Wang Peng said that the trade war has just begun, and more countries will have to stand between China and the United States in the future, and most countries choose to negotiate with the United States instead of fighting hard. Now consumption and investment in the troika have collapsed. If exports are cut off again, it will be a disaster for private enterprises. Tariff war begins. Freight forwarding and logistics industry faces a wave of closures. Under the impact of the tariff war, a large number of freighters on the China-U.S. route have stopped sailing. A Chinese freight forwarder revealed that after the U.S. tariff increase, logistics costs soared, shipments plummeted, and freight forwarding and logistics companies faced a wave of closures. Half a month after the U.S.-China tariff war began, the U.S. tariff on Chinese goods rose to 245 percent, with only some products exempted. The boss of an Yiwu freight forwarding company revealed that the tariff war has just begun, and due to the uncertainty of tariffs, the shipment volume has dropped sharply. In the past, payment was made upon arrival at the port, fearing that customers would abandon the goods and cause losses. Small freight forwarding companies now pay first and then ship. If tariffs are added during transportation, customers have to pay taxes from time to time. If tariffs fall, they will be refunded during customs clearance. At present, these freight forwarding companies have all stopped. Wang Dong, the boss of an Yiwu freight forwarding company, We used to have 80 containers every week, but now we have less than 40, which are not full. Yiwu's shipment volume has dropped by at least 70 percent. Now more than 20,000 logistics companies in Yiwu are expected to close down by half. Last week, all the small logistics companies that cooperated with us stopped working. Freight forwarding companies revealed that they now use the method of consolidating containers to mix high-tariff and low-tariff goods, reduce the value of goods, avoid taxes, and save logistics costs. Li Ting, an employee of a Shenzhen freight forwarding company, We mainly use USC Freight. As for freight, if the tariff increases, we will increase it. This industry is getting more and more competitive. The tax of about 2,000 yuan for a container is already very high. Now the tariff for a container is tens of thousands of yuan, accounting for 80 percent of the total logistics cost. It is understood that many freight forwarding companies in China have closed down, and their employees have lost their jobs. Yang Rui, an employee of a freight forwarding company in Guangzhou, There is a lot of goods in the U.S. market, but the situation is not good recently. The tariffs have increased, so I have to pay more. Everything has stopped. I have given up everything and went home to farm. Mr. Zhang, an executive of a Chinese e-commerce platform, revealed that trade with the U.S. has basically stopped, but some manufacturers have supply contracts with U.S. customers that must be fulfilled and are still shipping. Mr. Zhang, an executive of a Chinese e-commerce platform, The tariffs will last at least half a year. If there are many U.S. customers, the impact will be great. Large orders will stop, but small orders are still being made. Trading companies can't do U.S. lines at all. They can only change markets. For factories, some will lose money, and the average loss for one container is about tens of thousands of yuan. If they produce dozens or hundreds of orders a year, they will lose a lot of money. Over 100 million single women in China. Leftover women worry about marriage. In April this year, Hangzhou hosted a matchmaking event intended for a thousand participants. However, while hundreds of women attended, only a handful of men showed up. Some men were so taken aback by the low number of male attendees that they left immediately. The single women arrived dressed to impress, only to find very few men present. Why did this unusual scenario occur? It turns out that the organizers had set up the registration so that women could sign up for free, while men had to pay a fee ranging from 100 to 200 yuan, around $14 to 28 U.S. dollars. The rationale behind this decision is unclear. Typically, many matchmaking events in large cities allow men free entry and charge women, due to the higher number of single women compared to men. Even at events where men attend for free, their turnout tends to be low, let alone when a fee is charged. This event reflects a broader societal issue in China, where women who are well-educated and high-earning yet remain unmarried past the age of 27 are often labeled as leftover women. This label highlights societal expectations for women to marry young, regardless of their professional achievements. Women who pursue higher education and graduate from programs such as PhDs around the age of 28, or even those with a master's degree who remain unmarried a few years after graduation, can face this stigmatizing label. This situation creates a challenging landscape for older women in the marriage market, particularly as men in their 30s often prefer younger partners, leaving older women with fewer options. The phenomenon is widespread across major cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou, where the number of single older women is nearing or has exceeded 800,000 and continues to rise. Several factors contribute to this trend. In more expensive cities, men who have not achieved financial stability may feel pressured to return to their hometowns, where marrying and settling down is more feasible. Meanwhile, successful men in these cities, who may earn salaries ranging from 40,000 to 50,000 yuan 5,600 dollars to 7,000 US dollars, and own significant assets, usually do not consider settling down until after the age of 35. They often prioritize younger, more attractive partners, which exacerbates the difficulty for accomplished older women to find suitable matches. This challenging environment has left many older women with high standards for partners, believing they deserve someone exceptional. However, their unwillingness to compromise on these standards often leads them to dismiss potential matches over minor issues, thereby perpetuating their status as leftover women. Misley from Nanning exemplifies this situation. Despite being an attractive, financially independent businesswoman from a wealthy family, she remains unmarried at nearly 40. She dated several attractive men in her younger years but was not ready to settle down then. Despite acknowledging that she is not as young as she once was, she remains firm in her preference for handsome partners. Her ongoing search involves numerous blind dates, over 10 in the last six months alone, yet she continues to look for Mr. Right. This sentiment is echoed by an older woman who, in a video posted by Strange News Encyclopedia on the platform X on August 9, declared herself a high-quality leftover woman with significant financial assets, up to 3 million yuan in savings, nearly 419,352 U.S. dollars. She stated her preference for men in their 20s or 50s to avoid the competition and the pretentiousness and pickiness found in men in their 30s and 40s. Amid China's economic downturn, the reluctance to marry is prevalent among singles. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics show that there are nearly 240 million single people in China, with over 100 million being women. Xiao Zhang, a 30-year-old netizen, expressed her anxieties about being unmarried in a Douyin video, highlighting societal pressures and her desire to find a genuine connection. Society often portrays older unmarried women as facing a miserable future. However, Xienya, now 41 and single without children, embraces a different perspective, believing that being single can be as fulfilling as being married. She is open to marriage but is waiting for the right person to avoid a union without love. Similarly, Jing Yan, a 47-year-old from Suzhou, who has been labeled a leftover woman for nearly two decades, urges other women not to feel disheartened and to adjust their criteria for choosing a partner. Meanwhile, Wenjing, an employee at a large internet company, encountered frustrations with online matchmaking. After paying to send her resume to a male doctor on a matchmaking platform, she was disappointed when he did not even view her profile, leading her to become disillusioned with the process. This experience highlights the contrast between the relatively affordable nature of online matchmaking and the expensive, often prohibitive costs of high-end, one-on-one services, such as the one Lin Yi engaged with. Lin Yi, under pressure to find a partner, paid nearly US$2,000 for a service that finally led to a successful match on her second meeting, a story she shared widely on Chinese platform Xiahongxu. Please share your thoughts in the comments section below. We will keep reporting on the COVID surge in China, so don't forget to subscribe to our channel and turn on the notification bell to get the latest videos. And thank you for tuning in.