Candice Li, marketing manager at Conmo Electronic Co., says US orders for the medical devices her company manufactures have disappeared following a 145% tariff hike by Washington.

“It’s a matter of life and death because 60-70% of our business is with American clients,” she told Reuters. “Goods cannot be exported, and money cannot be collected. This is very severe.”

Li was speaking at the Canton Fair, China’s largest trade expo held in Guangzhou, where more than 30,000 companies are showcasing products across a massive venue. The fair, running from April 15 to May 5, is the first since US President Donald Trump imposed sweeping tariffs of over 100% on Chinese goods earlier this month.

Many Chinese exporters said orders from the US, a crucial market for them, have either been postponed or halted entirely. For China, which relies heavily on its trillion-dollar trade surplus, the slowdown could pose a major challenge.

Kobe Huang from Shenzhen Landun Environmental Technology said US orders are on hold, noting, “They have asked us to hold on. We are holding on.” While his firm has seen some growth in European sales, the US market is currently “frozen”.

US buyer Levy Spence, president of Air Esscentials, said uncertainty is holding him back. “Every day I wake up, I feel like it’s a different tariff,” he said. “Prices are going to go up. Even for the stuff that we source in the United States, a lot of the raw materials are sourced from around the world. It’s not just the China tariffs.”

Canton Fair sees drop in US, European buyers amid global trade shifts

Fair organizers reported that as of April 8, around 170,000 international buyers had registered, down from the record 253,000 attendees last November. Only about 10% were from the US and Europe, compared to roughly 20% previously.

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Deals at the last edition of the fair totaled $25 billion, but many exhibitors say they are now rethinking their markets and production hubs to offset rising trade risks.

Henry Han, sales manager at Apexto Electronics Co., said the US market now accounts for just 10% of direct sales, down from 30% before the pandemic. To avoid tariffs, some customers import components for final assembly in third countries.

Apexto had considered shifting production to Vietnam or the Philippines, but Han says that plan is now paused after Trump imposed new tariffs, 46% on Vietnam and 17% on the Philippines, though temporarily reduced to 10% during ongoing bilateral talks with about 75 countries.

Read more: How the US lost its place as the world’s manufacturing powerhouse: WSJ

Trump tariffs policy 'misguided'

Former US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen criticized US President Donald Trump's tariff strategy as "misguided", saying the logic behind it lacks clarity and coherence.

Speaking to Bloomberg TV, Yellen said, "Well, frankly, I think the entire policy has been misguided. The objectives are unclear. The rationale for the tariffs that have been announced really unclear and not at all sensible. Steps toward removing the tariffs, lowering them, are positive, but we are in a world of tremendous uncertainty."

She also questioned the decision to impose steep tariffs on Vietnam, pointing out that the US had previously encouraged Vietnamese manufacturing as a way to diversify global supply chains for national security.

With regards to China, Yellen suggested Beijing would likely ease its trade barriers if Washington did the same, warning that the tariffs risked burdening US households and weakening economic ties between the two countries.

Yellen also noted that recent bond market turbulence and a softening US dollar signaled a potential “loss of confidence,” although she said the situation hasn’t yet warranted intervention from the Federal Reserve.

Read more: Xi Jinping warns protectionism 'leads nowhere' during Vietnam visit