"I'm so happy."
On the afternoon of May 12th, Beijing time, the "Joint Statement on the Sino-US Geneva Economic and Trade Talks" was released. Seeing this news, American businessman Ken Ding found it hard to conceal his excitement. He plans to end his vacation in Bangkok, Thailand as soon as possible and return to Guangzhou to continue doing foreign trade, helping his family's hotel and clients purchase supplies.
Since 2008, all the supplies for the four hotels run by Ken Ding's family in the United States have been sourced from China. High cost performance, stable quality, and mature supply chains - these are the experiences accumulated over the years by his father.
(Photo shows Ken Ding trying out a Chinese-made thin pad, photo source: provided by Ken Ding)
A previous report by Phoenix TV's "Storm Eye" mentioned in "American Merchants from Trump's Voting Base: Why Are We Taxing Our Good Friends?" that in February this year, Ken Ding flew to China to procure renovation materials for the newly acquired hotel under his family.
This was his first time shouldering such a heavy responsibility. After working hard for two months, he successfully completed the task of purchasing hotel supplies worth 1 million RMB, but coincidentally hit the tariff storm initiated by Trump, with the tariff rate surging from 20% to 145%.
"To ship or not to ship?" This simple multiple-choice question once left him in a dilemma.
Ken Ding did the math: if calculated according to the tariff rates before Trump took office, the tariff for one container of goods would be around 70,000 RMB, but now it would exceed 1 million RMB, even more than the value of the goods themselves. But if he postponed shipping, he feared that the subsequent tariff policies might tighten further, making the costs even higher.
Ken Ding asked the freight forwarder company what to do, and they shook their heads: "We don't know what tomorrow holds." But this waiting became an ordeal.
While purchasing supplies for his family's hotel, Ken Ding had an even bigger commercial blueprint in mind - he planned to transform into a professional foreign trader after perfecting this cross-border procurement model, bringing high-quality Chinese products to more overseas customers.
Originally, he planned to settle down in China to do foreign trade, procuring for more American hotel peers. However, Trump's tariff war cast a shadow over his business blueprint.
But now everything has changed. "Relieved, I can go back to China to continue doing foreign trade," Ken Ding said. And he calculated that the batch of goods shipped from Foshan two weeks ago should enjoy the latest tariff policy when they arrive in the United States. This will save him millions of dollars in tariff fees.
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7503544496005644812/
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