By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-04-05 06:36:25 | Updated at 2025-04-05 16:06:41
9 hours ago
Hong Kong manufacturers should hold no illusions about getting more bulk orders from the United States going forward, with the escalating trade war representing a chance for them to turn into “value-adders” supporting mainland Chinese companies going global, sector representatives have said.
Industry veterans on Saturday also encouraged their peers to turn to markets in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, issuing the call in light of the latest 34 per cent reciprocal tariff slapped by Washington on Hong Kong products.
In a tit-for-tat move, Beijing said on Friday it would impose a 34 per cent tariff on imported American goods, escalating trade tensions between the world’s two biggest economies.
The US is Hong Kong’s second-largest export market, accounting for US$37.9 billion in merchandise in 2024.
“Hong Kong was used to one business formula over the past three or four decades – we took big business orders from the US, and we manufactured them on the mainland. But now we face an irreversible change,” lawmaker Sunny Tan, who represents the textiles and garments industry, said.
“We should not have any false hopes that we can still get large US orders in the future,” he said.
