China offered extra items to the world than ever in 2025, however export saleswoman Aimee Chen says it was the toughest of her roughly two-decade profession.
After US President Donald Trump’s tariff hikes led to US orders plunging by a 3rd, Chen’s pet merchandise firm moved to diversify geographies, chasing new and infrequently lower-income markets like South America. The response mirrored China’s official commerce coverage, which led to a record US$1.2 trillion surplus for 2025 regardless of new commerce boundaries.
Reuters interviews with 14 salespeople engaged on the frontlines of China’s export diversification push, nonetheless, reveal the prices and caveats behind the rosy headline commerce figures.
4 of the salespeople stated that orders from the brand new markets have been typically smaller in quantity and fewer profitable than US gross sales, leading to decrease commissions and pay. Authorities knowledge present earnings at China’s industrial firms fell 13.1 per cent year-on-year in November, the quickest tempo in over a yr.
Lots of the workers additionally described longer working hours in addition to higher depth and uncertainty amid the export growth.
“I am very anxious,” stated Chen, including that she had just lately skilled stress signs like hair loss and insomnia.
Mingwei Liu, director on the Middle for International Work and Employment at Rutgers College, stated that China’s export technique in various markets trusted corporations chasing excessive volumes of low-cost orders. Corporations that succeed typically give shoppers longer cost cycles and bear increased default dangers, he stated.
“This market reorientation will increase the labour depth, the emotional burden and revenue uncertainty confronted by employees in export gross sales,” Liu stated.
China’s commerce ministry and human assets ministry, in addition to the workplace which manages the cupboard’s media queries, didn’t reply to requests for remark.
NEW MARKETS, NEW PROBLEMS
China and the US have grown more and more interconnected since Beijing’s 2001 accession to the World Commerce Group. Their relationship has additionally change into extra imbalanced, with their respective financial insurance policies favouring manufacturing within the former nation and consumption within the latter.
Some American retailers and Chinese language producers have stated they developed relationships that have been so shut that they might anticipate one another’s wants and crimson strains, making offers really feel nearly automated.
Chen, for example, described her previous interactions with US retailers in largely glowing phrases. Purchasers on this planet’s largest financial system have been typically “easy-going” and signed offers shortly, she stated.
In contrast, prospects in new markets prefer to haggle on value, she stated.
