Chinese shoppers shrug off tariffs on US farm products, pantry staples
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Vendors in China are not worried by their nation's trade war with the US.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
BEIJING – Chinese tariffs on a range of American fruit, vegetables and other pantry staples took effect on March 10, but locals at a lively Beijing market largely shrugged off the escalating trade war.
The levies of 10 per cent and 15 per cent on American agricultural products
Vendors in a downtown market said they were not worried about sales despite the potential for higher prices at the check-out.
“If prices go up, folks won’t eat imported stuff,” a fruit seller, surnamed Shi, said. “There will be more domestic goods sold, and I think this is something folks can accept.”
Mr Shi’s offerings – from bananas and strawberries to durian and mangosteen – come from all around the world, but he said fruit grown within China typically sells better.
“The freshness of our domestic products is greater than imported stuff,” the 31-year-old said.
Mr Shi said he might sell fewer US varieties while offering more options from other countries, such as Thailand and Malaysia.
A steady stream of shoppers, mostly retirees, carried bags of meat and produce as they meandered through the market’s stalls.
Ms He Yulian, who was visiting her daughter in Beijing, said she was indifferent about the trade war.
She said she cared only about quality, not where a product was from.
“For regular folks, if we can tell something is imported from the United States, we can try to buy less of it – or not at all,” the 65-year-old from Shanxi said.
‘Responsibility to ourselves’
However, Ms He said that for certain products such as milk and infant formula, she preferred imports to their Chinese versions.
The Chinese public is no stranger to domestic food safety scandals.
One of the most notorious involved milk adulterated with the chemical melamine, which killed six infants and poisoned hundreds of thousands of others in 2008.
Beijing has pledged to do more to tighten food safety regulations in recent years but distrust lingers.
In 2022, pork-processing giant Henan Shuanghui apologised after unhygienic work practices
“It’s not that we’re not patriotic,” Ms He said. “It’s because we have a responsibility to ourselves.”
Beijing’s tariffs took effect on March 10, although they will not apply to goods that left before March 10 as long as they arrive in China by April 12.
Mr Shi, the fruit seller, said that, while levies were being put in place by both sides, the fight would be “better for China” because domestic goods would “become more powerful”.
In the short term, though, he acknowledged that everyday budgets might be hit.
“You still need to buy what you need at home,” he said. “Indeed, it’s regular people who suffer the most.” AFP
