"China’s fast-fashion capital slows down under Trump’s trade war", 1 August 2025

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Guangzhou...is also the humming, whirring and buzzing heart of the global fast fashion industry...

Every morning, workers gather in informal labour markets like the one in Panyu to see if they can find work for the day...Depending on the complexity of the task, workers earn between one and 10 yuan per item, toiling for long hours in cramped conditions...

More than a dozen garment workers interviewed by the Guardian all said that a normal working day was 10 to 12 hours, with some saying they only took one rest day each month...

...in April, Donald Trump, the US president, launched a trade war with China...Tariffs on Chinese goods reached 145%...before the two countries agreed to a 90-day pause in May. With a 12 August deadline looming to reach a deal, workers in Guangzhou are wondering whether or not they’ll be able to keep selling clothes to Americans.

In Panyu, Yang Ruiping has run his small clothes factory...About 30% of his orders are exported, mostly to Shein and Amazon, down from more than 50% before the pandemic...

“In the recent US-China trade war, if the tariffs go up, we need to lower the production costs to combat it,” he says. “It leaves little room for profit”. With no room to cut wages any lower, Yang says he is already losing money on every top he sells. He keeps accepting the orders in order to keep the factory open, but with the domestic market becoming increasingly competitive, he is aware he might not be able to operate much longer...

In 2022, over 30% of all the small packages imported under the so-called “de minimis” exemption came from Shein and Temu...On 2 May, Trump closed that loophole for goods from China and Hong Kong. This week, he expanded that ban to goods from all countries, meaning that suppliers can’t avoid tariffs by shipping via third countries. A recent analysis by Reuters found that prices on Shein increased by an average of 23% between 24 April and 22 July.

The US market is “volatile and risky,” says Peng Jianshen, the boss of a medium-sized denim clothes factory in Zengcheng, another of Guangzhou’s urban villages. “When tariffs were suddenly increased, the entire US-focused production stopped. No one dared to continue”...

“Generally, when we’re talking about the garment industry in China, workers don’t have rest days,” says Li Qiang, the founder of China Labor Watch...“They’re paid by piece rate. So they work as much as possible when the orders are still there.”...

Global conflicts and low consumer spending in China mean that it’s hard to pivot away from the US and towards other markets...