‘You Think We’re Afraid of America?’

The sewing machines had been switched off at Kang Yang Apparel, a women’s-clothing manufacturer in the southeastern-Chinese city of Yiwu, so it was easy to hear the word ricocheting across the factory floor: Chuanpu, a Mandarin nickname for Trump. When I visited, the United States had just raised tariffs on Chinese goods to 145 percent. The workers at Kang Yang did not seem intimidated. When I approached a group of idle factory men, their replies were bellicose: “Hold strong!” one shouted. “You think we’re afraid of America?” barked another. Later, one man offered a steadier assessment: “The truth is, it will have an impact, but we will be fine.”

Yiwu is the world’s largest wholesale market. Products as varied as padlocks, luggage tags, and inflatable pools each get a dedicated Costco-size zone. Roughly half a trillion dollars’ worth of Chinese goods, or 15 percent of China’s total annual exports, are imperiled by the trade war, but Chinese President...
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