High cost, low stock -- tariff fallout continues among San Francisco shops
發佈日期: 2025-05-26 20:14
TVB News
The tariff war has pinched U.S. businesses that rely on imports of Chinese products. Even after China and the U.S. agreed to temporarily lower levies, the repercussions have lingered.
At this dry goods supermarket in San Francisco's Chinatown, shelves are stocked with products familiar to Hongkongers. Some 70 percent of its stock is imported from China.
At the height of the trade war, tariffs on Chinese goods soared to 145 percent. With an ensuing buying spree, prices of almost all goods at the store jumped 30 to 40 percent.
Today, with the levies temporarily eased to 30 percent, the store's manager Mrs. Zhu said that has offered a reprieve but import prices of goods remained high because of the uncertain outlook.
Down the street, this traditional dried seafood shop sells Chinese broth ingredients -- most are imported from China.
The shopkeeper said they can only secure half of their usual supply. And that's because other merchants are also scrambling to stock up with some wholesalers rationing supplies.
Early in the tariff war, this noodle shop in San Francisco had prepared for the worst. Even their signature dish, wonton noodles, has to change its flavour because the eatery is out of dried shrimp and preserved fish.
Its manager Amanda said the Hong Kong-style wonton noodles has to go "American" using chicken broth as a soup base and it just doesn't taste right.
Even when the tariff war eased, she said with rising price levels, customers are spending and dining out less. She hopes the government can understand: livelihood is not easy.
The United States last waged a tariff war in 1930. Then-U.S. President Herbert Hoover raised tariffs on more than 10,000 imported goods.
The move precipitated a plunge in U.S. exports, soaring unemployment and a global recession. Some economists warn history could be repeating itself.
