When US President Donald Trump signed the historic tariff orders that launched the global tariff war on April 2, the pen he used could well have been made in China.
Advertisement
Even if we leave aside that particular pen, the paperwork that follows will mainly be processed with tools sourced from Chinese factories, which now face an accumulated American tariff of around 125 per cent.
The irony underscores a deeper truth about the US-China trade relationship: tariffs meant to punish Beijing often end up hitting American consumers hardest while failing to dislodge China’s dominance in everyday goods. The most affected American people are those who can least afford a more expensive alternative because many of these Chinese goods are small daily necessities.
US trade data reveals a startling reality: about 85 per cent of the pens and pencils in the United States are made in China. In 2022 alone, Americans bought US$430 million worth of pens from Chinese suppliers. Even leading brands such as Bic and Paper Mate rely on Chinese components.
The mountains of paperwork unleashed by the president’s wild economic gamble will become much more expensive after this week, and there is no real alternative in sight. China claims 80 per cent of the global market share of stationery.
Advertisement
It is not just the writing instruments. When Trump’s deeply religious faithful go to church to pray for a trade war victory, the Bibles in their hands are most likely to have been printed… again in China!
Amity Printing Company in Nanjing, China is the world’s largest Bible producer. Since 1987, it has printed over 200 million copies of “the good book”, all for export. About half of these are estimated to be sold to the American market. According to US International Trade Commission data, atheist China accounts for 70 to 80 per cent of America’s religious book imports.