[NTD News, Beijing time, November 4, 2024]The countdown to the U.S. presidential election is on. Various polls show that the candidates of the two parties are evenly matched, but the probability of Republican candidate Trump winning is much higher than that of Democratic candidate Kamala Harris. In addition, the Yiwu Index, another alternative poll that has attracted much attention from Chinese people, shows that the popularity of Trump’s peripheral products is much higher than that of Harris.
The WeChat public account of “Wu Xiaobo Channel” recently published an article signed by “Ba Jiuling” saying that after Biden announced his withdrawal from the election in July this year and He Jinli became the new candidate of the Democratic Party, He Jinli’s peripheral products were very few. In contrast, the Yiwu market is rich in mature Trump-related products such as flags and hats. On the Amazon platform, Trump has twice as many merchandise as Harris.
In the past few U.S. elections, Yiwu would produce large quantities of baseball caps, flags, character toys and other campaign peripheral products for export to the United States, and evolved into an informal poll – the Yiwu Index.
On November 8, 2016, Trump unexpectedly defeated Hillary Clinton and was elected as the 45th President of the United States. This result caught the mainstream media and polling institutions off guard. However, the Yiwu Index accurately predicted Trump’s victory and became the most simple “master of prediction”. It was famous for a while, but in the 2020 election, Yiwu “accidentally overturned.”
This year’s U.S. election has caused Yiwu merchants to experience more ups and downs, including the change of leadership in the Democratic Party.
The article stated that in July, Biden announced his withdrawal from the presidential campaign and He Jinli became the new candidate. For a time, He Jinli’s peripherals were very few. On the Yiwu Gou platform, a store sells baseball caps. In the overall picture of the store taken in July, they still display baseball caps with elements of Trump and Biden.
In contrast, the Yiwu market is rich in mature Trump-related products such as flags and hats. On the Amazon platform, Trump has twice as many merchandise as Harris.
Japan’s ABEMA TV station went to Yiwu to interview and film, as a perspective to observe the US election. A Yiwu boss who specializes in wristbands held a wristband with “Trump 2024” and “MAGA” printed on it and said in front of the camera: “(Trump’s merchandise) sales are better this year than in previous years.”
However, unlike the eve of the previous two US elections, Yiwu seems to have fewer and fewer orders this year.
Caixin.com quoted an owner of a flag shop in Yiwu International Trade City as recalling that when Trump was first elected president of the United States eight years ago, every household would receive orders for some flags. In this year’s general election, the campaign process of the two parties in the United States has undergone more dramatic changes.
Candidates from both parties have made-in-China issues on their campaign agenda. Both parties have stated that they will only sell “Made in the United States” products during the campaign and refuse to use “Made in China” products. In August 2024, U.S. President Biden signed the “All American Flag Act”, which requires the federal government to only purchase American flags produced in the United States to strengthen the “Made in America” promoted by the U.S. government.
However, Liu, the owner of a flag shop, told Caixin.com, “The key depends on the order.” “If you can’t make a national flag, you can still make a flag (printed with) a person’s name. There are always more solutions than difficulties!”
Ba Jiuling also said that due to the boycott, Yiwu merchants chose to take a detour to do business. Merchants in Yiwu started cross-border e-commerce, opening stores directly on the e-commerce platform to sell campaign products to American voters.
Searching for best-selling products with the keyword “Trump flag 2024” on Amazon, 46 of the top 48 products show that the seller’s address is in China.
Analysis by the Financial Times shows that among the best-selling flags and hats with Trump or Harris elements on Amazon, more than 90% of the sellers are located in China.
According to the sales volume and quantity ratio of Chinese sellers on each Amazon site calculated by Seller Wizard, about 55% of the US sites are Chinese sellers, and they occupy 58% of the market share.
(Editor: Lin Qing)
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