Factory workers across China are responding to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs program with what essentially amounts to rioting.
It’s because the tariffs have cut so deeply into China’s exports to the United States factories are being shut down without notice and workers laid off without pay.
A report from Reuters documents that China’s factory activity plunged “at the fastest pace in 16 months” in April.
Chinese officials repeatedly have claimed that their economy can withstand any shocks that may develop from Trump’s tariffs, which are intended to equalize international trade.
As part of that move, Trump imposed a long list of tariffs on countries that export to the United States, with the intention of reaching fair trade agreements with them. Dozens of nations already have contacted the administration about just that, and several dozen have agreements in the works.
Reuters reported, “China’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell to 49.0 in April versus 50.5 in March, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the lowest reading since December 2023 and missing a median forecast of 49.8 in a Reuters poll.”
The result “suggests that China’s economy is coming under pressure as external demand cools,” explained, Zichun Huang, who is the China economist for Capital Economics.
“Although the government is stepping up fiscal support, this is unlikely to fully offset the drag, and we expect the economy to expand just 3.5% this year.”
The “export orders index” has plunged, too, the report said.
“Beijing has largely relied on exports to shore up the fragile economic recovery since the end of the pandemic and only began to take steps to boost domestic demand more earnestly late last year,” the report said.
A report from Daily Caller News Foundation said the results of Trump’s tariffs have left “workers throughout China … flooding the streets in revolt.”
“From the cramped streets of Sichuan in the southwest to the cold outskirts of Inner Mongolia in the northeast, furious workers are demanding back pay and protesting mass layoffs as factories shutter under pressure from Trump’s tariffs,” the report said.
Workers at a Shanghai LED plan were shouting at managers over unpaid wages and there was a “similar scene” at a sporting goods store in Dao County, the report said.
Some circumstances were getting extreme: “In the northeast city of Tongliao, construction workers climbed onto rooftops and threatened to jump if their wages were not paid.”
Goldman Sachs estimated that up to 16 million Chinese jobs could be erased because of the pressure from the tariffs.
Trump’s comment? “They were making from us a trillion dollars a year. They were ripping us off like nobody’s ever ripped us off. They’re not doing that anymore.”