Starting from May 14, both the USA and China significantly reduce bilateral tariff levels, implementing the important consensus reached in prior high-level economic and trade discussions. The export chain has already seen new changes, with American clients urging shipments and listed companies supplementing Orders becoming the main theme.
Data released by the trade tracking institution Vizion shows that after the mutual reduction of tariffs between the USA and China, the booking volume for container transportation from China to the USA skyrocketed nearly 300%.
A rebound in trade volume in the short term is expected, and the overseas capacity driven by the need to diversify supply chain risks is also likely to boost export performance.
Request for delivery, supplement Order.
Some customers request that Orders from the USA be prioritized for production and shipment, while others have not adjusted their shipping plans. The company is currently in its peak production season, with a full Order book, and all factories are operating normally to ensure timely delivery," said Fang Lingling, secretary of the Board of Directors of Wali Group. Wali Group is a professional manufacturer of sports shoes for international brands such as Nike, Converse, and Vans, with an expected sales volume of 0.223 billion pairs of sports shoes in 2024.
ShanDong Cynda Chemical, which primarily produces environmentally friendly herbicides, expects that the recent tariff adjustments will have a certain stimulating effect on the sales of Propaquizafop. It is understood that previously, due to tariff issues, the overall volume of Propaquizafop sold by domestic manufacturers to the USA was small, leading to a significant shortage of Propaquizafop products in the USA market.
Ding Linfeng, General Manager of Shanghai Weida Sunshade Equipment Co., Ltd., received a US Order worth over one million yuan on the night of May 12. "The US customer is urgently requesting a supplement Order, hoping to complete production within a month, as the maritime Transportation of goods will also take a month. Everyone wants to seize the 90-day shipping window," revealed Ding Linfeng.
Wang Li, General Manager of Shenzhen Maiqijia Home Co., Ltd., is busy responding to the urgent requests for shipping from US customers. Previously, many US customers, worried about tariffs, had placed Orders and paid a 30% deposit, but did not allow Wang Li to arrange for shipping. Now, after quickly making up the final payment, they are urging shipment. "Some customers are even requesting part of the goods to be sent by Air Transportation, which was rare in the past," said Wang Li.
Freight rates for the US have started to rise. On May 12, the Shanghai Export Container Freight Index released by the Shanghai Shipping Exchange showed that the index for the US West Coast route (base port) was 1455.31 points, an increase of 10.2% compared to last week. According to Clarksons Research Statistics, in April 2025, China's total exports to the USA decreased by 20% year-on-year, and the trade volume on the eastbound trans-Pacific route for container trade fell by 20% to 30% year-on-year.
Demand for Chinese manufacturing remains strong.
As a major manufacturing country with a large industrial scale and strong supporting capabilities, Chinese companies have significant cost, category, and speed advantages. Before the recent tariff dispute, analysts were generally optimistic about the resilience of Chinese exports. Looking back over the past month of the tariff war, many Chinese companies have stated that the earlier tariffs did not lead to a loss of customers; instead, there has been an influx of incremental orders.
Fang Lingling revealed that the company has not experienced situations where customers have significantly canceled or reduced orders due to tariffs; most customers have not yet discussed the tariff cost issue with the company.
Zhang Jiong, secretary of the Board of Directors of Streamax Technology, also stated that since the beginning of April, not a single customer has left the company, and the number of orders has not decreased. In fact, affected by tariff disturbances, some US customers have increased their orders in the second quarter, enhancing the performance of the second quarter.
International market demand for Chinese production capacity remains strong, and a period of "export grabbing" in the near future is a common expectation within the industry. Clarksons Research believes that in the short term, as some previously "paused" shipments resume, trade volume may see a certain rebound. The HTSC team also believes that given the uncertainty of so-called "reciprocal tariffs" after the 90-day "exemption period," "export grabbing" is expected to continue within the 90-day window.
The Alibaba International Station has stated that it will continue to invest in expanding the scale of US buyers, helping Chinese merchants seize the 90-day shipping window while accelerating the establishment of local warehouse networks to assist Chinese sellers in capturing the upcoming increase in procurement in the US market. Currently, the Alibaba International Station has launched overseas spot product recruitment, targeted marketing for the US, etc., to help merchants quickly increase the conversion of orders towards the US and accelerate performance growth.
Diversification of production capacity going abroad.
In the short term, the driving force for China's export performance improvement may extend beyond commodity exports to the USA, and the capacity going overseas is also worth attention. "In the face of the current fluctuations in U.S. tariff policies, enterprises continue to worry about long-term uncertainties, which may prompt them to further diversify supply chain risks, and the initial export of equipment and capital going overseas will also be reflected as exports," analyzed the team from HTSC.
"In addressing the challenges of tariffs, the company has profoundly realized the far-reaching significance of a flexible and resilient global layout in an increasingly uncertain and complex international environment," Zhang Jiong stated.
Achieving a balanced capacity layout on a global scale has become the goal of Streamax Technology. In Zhang Jiong's view, the company's overseas capacity layout is not limited to the USA market, but rather aims at the integration of the global supply chain and the optimization of customer service. The company conducted supply chain research in South America, especially in Brazil, last year, and is also considering the production possibilities in other regions of Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and even within the USA.
"Huali Group will not make large adjustments to the overall capacity construction in the short term, and the construction of new factories in Vietnam and Indonesia will continue at the established pace, with specific factory production schedules to be adjusted based on order situations," Fang Lingling introduced. This year, Huali Group will also launch a new finished shoe factory in Vietnam, and the production base in Indonesia is expected to have a capacity of over 60 million pairs, with production beginning in the first half of 2024. Completion of the Indonesian plant construction will take about 3 more years.
The construction of the Sanboshui factory in Vietnam is also progressing steadily. The general manager, Wen Ke, indicated that the company will promote the layout of overseas production bases, serving as an overseas order window, to reduce trade barriers and logistics costs; meanwhile, it will enhance customer development and maintenance in non-American markets like Europe and Asia, reducing reliance on the North American market.
Editor/danial
