Trade war with US triggers wave of factory ‘holidays’ in China’s export hubs

As the U.S.-China trade war heats up, businesses in major export hubs in southeastern China are announcing factory “holidays” – halting production and slashing employee wages and work hours – while turning to social commerce platforms to sell stockpiled goods, as they grapple with a sharp drop in overseas orders.

It’s a phenomenon sweeping across China’s export-driven provinces like Zhejiang, Guangdong, and Jiangsu, where manufacturers – weighed down by a large backlog of unsold merchandise – are issuing a flurry of “holiday notices” to announce they are suspending operations at factories. To clear large piles of inventory, companies are now resorting to selling the leftover export goods through social commerce platforms, such as TikTok and Taobao, at heavily marked-down rates.

Merchandise ranging from yoga pants and footwear to home appliances and blankets — originally intended to be exported to the U.S. — are now being sold online by Chinese export companies or their employees at bargain prices, multiple videos reviewed by RFA on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, show.

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