Chinese manufacturers are flooding TikTok with viral videos aimed at undermining President Donald Trump’s tariff crackdown, turning the platform into a digital battlefield over American trade policy.
Thousands of Chinese businesses, outraged by Trump’s aggressive tariffs on imports, are bypassing traditional supply chains and pitching to U.S. consumers through slick, comedic videos on TikTok, according to MIT Technology Review. Many of these posts “expose” the hidden manufacturing origins of luxury goods, framing Trump’s tariff efforts as harmful not just to Chinese workers, but to American buyers.
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“Some say as long as there’s a tag saying ‘Made in China,’ the bag can never be luxury,” the video’s narrator said. “However, in fact, more than 80% of the luxury bags in the world are made in China … Welcome to the real world. Now you see those bags are made in China by our intelligent and diligent Chinese artisans. Let’s not be poisoned and misled by the market campaign any longer.”
In another video, the same Chinese seller revealed that Gucci, Prada, Coach, Louis Vuitton and other luxury brands are allegedly sourced from the same Chinese factories producing their direct-to-consumer knockoffs.
“As the USA and its little European brothers are trying to refuse Chinese goods, don’t you think luxury brands are now trying to move their [original equipment manufacturers] out of China?” he said. “Yes, they did, but they failed.”
He explained that outside of China, luxury brands allegedly can’t find the same level of quality control, supply chain optimization or workers who aren’t “too expensive or too lazy.”
“Why don’t you just contact us and buy from us? You won’t believe the prices we give you,” he said.
Clips like these can rack up as many as hundreds of millions of views.
The latest tariffs — 145% against most Chinese imports as of Monday — target a range of Chinese exports, including textiles and luxury goods. President Trump has stated that the goal of these tariffs is to drive manufacturing jobs back to U.S. soil and curb China’s economic leverage.
By encouraging American consumers to place small, individual orders directly through TikTok links, Chinese manufacturers may seek to exploit a gap in customs enforcement. Until last Friday, personal shipments valued under $800 could enter the U.S. duty-free under the “de minimis” exemption, allowing Chinese sellers to bypass traditional tariff penalties. Trump closed that loophole by executive order earlier this month, applying new tariffs of 30% or $25 per item to previously eligible shipments.
With the loophole soon closing, the fight now shifts to enforcement, as Chinese sellers continue using TikTok to drive low-value purchases that could still overwhelm customs oversight and blunt the impact of Trump’s trade crackdown.
TikTok, which Chinese parent company ByteDance owns, has faced bipartisan scrutiny for years over its data collection practices and potential use as a tool for Chinese influence operations.
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First published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
