President Donald Trump has been increasingly raising tariffs on China throughout his term. As of 4/10/25, Donald Trump has raised tariffs on Chinese imports to 125%. This comes after China has since set to raise tariffs on the U.S. to 84%. This will affect both American and Chinese citizens and their purchase everyday items as well as other common products and machinery.
China released the 84% tariffs, which is a 50% increase to the previous tariffs. Shortly before, China’s Ministry of Commerce is quoted saying that if the U.S. keeps escalating their restriction on trade and economics, China has the ability to take the countermeasures needed and “Fight to the end”, according to Huizhong Wu, Associated Press writer for PBS news. Beijing has imposed restrictions doing business with nearly a dozen American companies and have said that they will give a new challenge to the American tariffs at the World Trade Organization.
For most of the times that China has raised tariffs on the U.S., China has cited the reason as disrespect from the U.S. in how they go about raising taxes on China. This makes sense, as shortly before China enacted more tariffs, Vice President J. D. Vance, according to some sources, was quoted as saying “…to make it a little bit more crystal clear we borrow money from Chinese peasants to buy the things those Chinese peasants manufacture…”. The word “peasants” while not inherently discriminatory, carries connotations that some people have taken issue with.
This “Tariff War” has resulted in an odd phenomenon on TikTok. On the app, what has become known in the past 3 days as of 4/14/2025 as “Chinese Supplier” Tok has emerged. This is where seemingly Chinese citizens, often times factory owners, give different websites to go to buy directly from them or others in China, in a way that negates most tariffs. As well as websites, apps such as Wechat and WhatsApp has been used by people to make direct offer from people. These people offer a variety of things, from designer handbags to metal parts. Some are offering different websites for different items to buy from, such as Tiktok user @user636521116, who lists various Chinese websites for people to go to shop for items, websites she claims are better than Alibaba, a website connecting wholesalers in China to people and businesses worldwide with the intent to trade or resell their products.
The validity of these content creators is questionable. Several videos such as one by a man who goes by Wang Sen, who according to Ramisiah Raruf, writer for CNN, “…claims that he is the original equipment manufacturer for most luxury brands, while standing in front of a wall of what appear to be ultra-spendy Birkin bags.” In the video he encourages the watcher to buy from him and his company. He says the watcher won’t believe the prices they can get the bags for. The video has since been deleted. Along with this, DHgate, an app on the Apple app store that’s an online whole store famous for selling Chinese dupes of luxury goods, has become the 2nd most downloaded app. The app Taobao, which is China’s original commerce site, is at #7.
Anyone who feels the need to buy directly from someone in China, rather than wait for a product to hit the states, should, as with any direct purchases, have a level of skepticism in their purchases. At the moment, the tariffs between America and China are not set to change, and it is unsure how they will develop at the moment.
