TikTok users in the US are being inundated with videos from Chinese influencers encouraging American buyers to overcome punitive Trump tariffs by buying direct from the âworldâs factoryâ â China.
Mostly filmed at Chinese factories purporting to supply top US brands from Lululemon Athletica Inc. to Nike Inc., the influencers aim to âexposeâ how the vast majority of consumer goods are made in the worldâs second-largest economy. Many of them provide website URLs and contact details for viewers to order directly from these suppliers. âWhy donât you just contact us and buy from us? You wonât believe the prices we give you,â said one creator selling luxury handbags.
In another video, TikTok creator @LunaSourcingChina, stands outside a factory she says makes Lululemon yoga leggings for $5 to $6 even though they retail in the US for more than $100. âThe material and craftsmanship are basically the same,â she says.
A Lululemon spokesperson said the company manufactures about 3 percent of its finished goods in Mainland China and that authentic products are only available for purchase at Lululemon stores, official websites and authorised partners.
Some of the most popular videos â many uploaded in March but only gaining traction in recent days â have been amplified by a video titled âChina exposed the truthâ with 8.3 million views and 492,000 likes, as of Monday morning, New York time. The one that reveals the Chinese supplier to Lululemon garnered 2.6 million views and over 215,000 likes, while a âHow we bypass tariffsâ clip had close to 1 million views and 118,000 likes.
The sheer volume of similarly themed videos in a short period of time points to a popular backlash against President Donald Trumpâs barrage of tariffs, including a 145 percent levy on China. While itâs unclear how ordering directly from Chinese suppliers would allow consumers to sidestep the tariff â the duty waiver for small parcels that are sent to American homes is also being scrapped from May 2 â the videos speak to the ongoing global reaction to Trumpâs tariffs, and the White House narrative that the economic measures are in Americansâ interest.
The flood of posts also reflects the increased effectiveness of Chinese creators to reach into the daily lives of ordinary Americans. TikTokâs algorithm, and its ability to influence what information millions of US users see, is one of the main driving forces behind US government efforts to force its Chinese owner ByteDance Ltd. to relinquish control of its international operations. TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Other Chinese social media apps like Xiaohongshu, or Red Note, have also gained popularity among young US users amid uncertainty around access to TikTok.
âThese posts are much more confrontational and mocking of the US, rather than showing it as a threat,â said Tom Harper, lecturer in Chinese international relations at the University of East London. They follow a wave of AI-generated images depicting Americans working on assembly lines, Harper added.
Some of the videos directly criticise US trade policies and call on American citizens to take action.
âFor decades your government and oligarchs ship your jobs to China, not for diplomacy, not for peace, but to exploit cheap labor and in the process, they hollow out your middle class, crash your working class and told you to be proud while they sold your future for profit,â user @neil778027 said in a video. âAmericans, you donât need a tariff, you need a revolution.â
On Friday, the US announced tariff exemptions on a range of Chinese products including electronics, computers and semiconductors, although itâs not known how long these exceptions will apply. Regardless, they will not affect most of the goods exported by China to the US, including the clothing and accessories produced by Chinese suppliers featured in the TikTok videos.
Many European high-end luxury brands are also featured, but the makers of the videos donât explain why they are featuring European brands in their pushback against the US.
Another key question raised by the videos is whether the factories have non-disclosure agreements with their international clients and how the videos will potentially affect long-standing business relationships between brands and their manufacturers.
Cameron Johnson, senior partner at Shanghai-based consultancy Tidalwave Solutions, who recently visited the Chinese manufacturing hub of Yiwu, sees it as part of a fundamental shift in purchasing practices for China.
âIn the past, you might use a middleman or a trading company to source your products for your deal with quality control or go visit the factory, establish those relationships, and then maybe you would come on occasion,â he told Bloomberg TV. âBut now what weâre seeing is just a complete democratisation of sourcing products.â
By Bloomberg News
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