US buyers elusive as tariffs cast pall over China trade show

Canton Fair feels effects of latest salvo in trade war between Washington and Beijing

- Joyce ZK Lim China Correspondent

GUANGZHOU - Chinese exporters at the country's largest trade show say that American buyers and the business they represent have become increasingly elusive, as rising tariffs cast a pall on the outlook for shipments between the world's two largest economies.

The twice-yearly Canton Fair, a bellwether for trade, opened on Oct 15 in Guangzhou, just weeks after the US implemented tariff hikes on Chinese imports from steel to electric vehicles on Sept 27.

It was the latest salvo in a trade war with more duties to follow over the next two years - that has since 2018 reshaped the global flow of goods, with emerging economies filling the space left by decreased US-China trade.

Its effects were felt in the southern Chinese manufacturing hub, where exporters from across the country are converging until Nov 4 to secure orders for the months ahead.

Ms Jessie Zhou, sales representative of a shopping trolley manufacturer from eastern China's Jiangsu province, said she had not encountered any American clients at the fair after tariffs on steel more than tripled to reach 25 per cent.

US buyers used to make up about 10 per cent of Changshu Kaijia Metal Products' business, she said.

Now, their orders were "basically no more".