Tariffs Are Reshaping China’s Trade. This Tanzanian Sees an Opportunity.

Not long after it joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, China became the factory floor of the United States. But free trade with China cost America jobs. Economists later termed that period the “China Shock,” lamenting how the United States had critically underestimated the scale of China’s manufacturing prowess.

Now President Trump wants to bring those jobs back to America. Through a series of whiplash tariffs, he has tried to shut off the U.S. market to China. But instead of slowing down, China is selling more goods than ever, this time to the rest of the world.

Is China unleashing a new shock?

I recently traveled to China and across Southeast Asia to try to answer this question. In Indonesia, an economist told me that by lowering its trade barrier with China, the country had seen a flood of cheap goods that killed off entire industries, like the one for garments. In Malaysia, a fledgling but dynamic solar panel industry was destroyed. In other countries, like Vietnam, trade with China has been, so far, a boon.

China isn’t forcing countries to buy its stuff. Beijing, like Washington before it, is making the pitch that open trade is good for peace. Its two dozen free trade agreements, mostly with developing countries that have struggled to attract American investment, come with money that can create local jobs and build critical infrastructure. But the trade is usually not even: In most cases, China sells more than it imports. Some economies have become entirely dependent on China. As that Indonesian economist put it to me: “The contribution is very, very large to our economy.”

Throughout, I wanted to know: Who is buying all this stuff?

On my most recent reporting trip to China, I took a train to the city of Yiwu, known for being the wholesale capital world. In one of Yiwu’s six vast international trade centers, I talked to buyers and sellers. One of them was Rhoda Nghelembi, an entrepreneur from Tanzania. She shared her story with me. It has helped to fill in the other side of the equation.

Ms. Nghelembi, 26, started several years ago selling home appliances and dinnerware in Dar es Salaam. She relied on middlemen to source her wares. But when she learned they were buying from China, she decided to go to China herself. I met her last week, on her seventh trip.

Her business, Msukuma, sells handbags, clothes and jewelry to customers in Tanzania and other African countries. Our conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.

When did you start coming to China and why?

2023. You know China is the center of everything.

What led you to come here?

Before, I was buying from my country, and I was surprised that they were buying from China. Then my agent told me, “You should go, go and you will see many, many opportunities.”

So you were ordering from somebody in Tanzania who was ordering from China, and then you decided to come here yourself. Were you surprised when you first arrived?

I was really surprised because I saw the percent that the middleman was adding was huge. It is really a lot of money.

So now do you find you can make more money?

Now, besides my own business, I also take orders from people back in my country. So I’m also like a middleman. I buy, I sell, I also do TikTok videos. People from TikTok, not just in my country, but also from Kenya, Uganda, Congo, they call me. “We need this and this,” so I will buy and send it to them.

Can you give me a sense of how successful your business is now?

It’s a good business. I can afford anything I want because I’m doing business, I’m gaining every day. Anything that I want, I think I can afford for now.

And how does China fit into your future?

I see my future growing so big, and being rich because of China, because China has so many opportunities.

What is the biggest opportunity you found once you got here?

At first when I came I was selling home appliances and plates. But when I came, I saw jewelry, I saw handbags, I saw women’s clothes. So I started changing my business.

You must be aware of the U.S.-China trade war. Do you see any differences since then in terms of opportunities for you?

Yeah, I see many, many differences. This market, every day when you come you see different things. That’s how it is in China. Africa is so different, even the quality of things is quite different. Many African people, they like cheap things. And American people like quality things. Things are very cheap.

Li You contributed research.