How China's e-commerce industry is fending off Trump's tariffs

Chinese e-commerce firms adapt to tariffs with pricing, market shifts.

Within Alibaba's crowded auditorium in Hangzhou, hundreds of Chinese small business owners stood intently listening to company executives outlining methods to weather the newest round of US tariffs. The message was unambiguous: resilience, flexibility, and unforgiving tenacity would be essential in riding out the economic tempest unleashed by US President Donald Trump's combative trade policies.

The United States is China's biggest online export market, with over one-third of sales made through such platforms as Alibaba, Shein, Temu, and DHGate. Yet as tariffs mount — in certain instances, reaching unprecedented heights — Chinese business leaders are being compelled to redefine their business models, marketing approaches, and even their target markets, the New York Times reported.

Building resilience amid disruption

During the Alibaba conference, officials assured sellers that they would be assisted with customs processes, marketing, and shifting to new markets. The Hangzhou government also made promises, providing legal support for businesses that wanted to expand beyond the US.

The interview highlighted the scope of China's e-commerce ecosystem. In addition to giant platforms such as Alibaba and Temu, the industry depends on drop-shippers, live-streaming stars, individual tutors for sellers, and a vast factory network. Recent policies have focused on foreign online sales, providing tax incentives and new college majors devoted to e-commerce.

That environment is now evolving. Amazon, which has a training facility in Hangzhou, is assisting its Chinese vendors in grasping the changing regulatory environment. Online sites are pumping millions into new ad programmes targeting non-US markets.

Increasing costs and changing strategies

Business owners such as Qiu Leisi, who is getting ready to sell plus-size apparel to American and European retailers, say they will just transfer the higher tariff costs to their consumers. Others, such as Shawn Zhao of HyperSKU, are aggressively shifting to Europe, cutting US advertising budgets and marketing customized products like engraved jewellery — products that China's adaptable manufacturing platform can make more cheaply than any competitor.

But even for agile entrepreneurs, the effect is dire. Zhao anticipates at least a 20 percent drop in sales because of the tariffs. Merchants worry not only about the cost burden, but also the growing complexity of diverting goods through third nations, a strategy under renewed scrutiny as Washington pushes trading partners to seal loopholes.

Even with the optimism at such conferences as Alibaba's, most entrepreneurs recognize that the crisis lays bare vulnerabilities. China's domestic market is still hypercompetitive and glacial, and companies are compelled to look outwards even as choices shrink.

The spirit of survival

Businessmen like Fu Sicong, who deals in car decorations, have little option but to seek foreign markets in spite of danger. "The market is only so large, and the merchants are so saturated," he explained, referring to declining sales at home and the necessity to seek higher returns overseas.

Others, such as Li Tongzi, are philosophical even after witnessing their US sales plummet. "It's just a matter of whether you make more money or less," he said. "Even if we only earn 10 cents, we dare to do it."

That tenacity — an unyielding ability to bend and endure — has driven China's ascent in international e-commerce for years. And against the backdrop of record tariffs and tensions, it seems to still be the country's strongest asset.