Donald Trump’s tariff war has been wreaking havoc in global markets, but among exporters in China’s “trinket town” — the eastern city of Yiwu famous for making everything from Christmas trees to Donald Trump campaign caps — the mood is more of stoic defiance than panic.
Amid government invocations of late dictator Mao Zedong that are intended to project national strength, Chinese business people on the front lines of the trade war said they were confident their nation would prevail.
“Trump wants to steal a slice of China’s pie,” said exporter Kenny Qi in his small store festooned with “Make American Great Again” T-shirts in a vast Yiwu trade exhibition centre.