In April, a tariff hurricane swept the world: the second generation of Yiwu factory went from anxiety to numbness under the 125% tax rate, American consumers frantically hoarded goods, and the gears of the supply chain collapsed. The trade earthquake has pushed the iPhone to $3,500, Amazon's stock price has plummeted 28% in a single day, and the core competitiveness of Made in China has left American buyers with no way to escape.

Eggs become "golden eggs": a true portrayal of inflation

To what extent has consumer inflation reached in the United States?

To illustrate this with a very specific example – the price of eggs has skyrocketed. According to U.S. government data, the average price of a dozen (or 12) Grade A eggs rose by 5.6 percent in the week ended April 6 to a record $6.23 (about 45 yuan). Compared to the same period in 2024, this price has increased by about 60%!

It's no wonder that many Americans can't afford to buy eggs, which simply turns eggs into "golden eggs". Trump's tariff policy is like a boomerang, first stuck in the Americans themselves. Even former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said Trump's tariffs were one of the biggest self-inflicted wounds on the U.S. economy.

Faced with such high prices, a large number of American consumers began to look for cheaper ways to buy goods. In the past two days, DHgate, a cross-border B2B e-commerce platform from China, has suddenly become popular in the United States.

Public data shows that on April 12, DHgate was in the App Store and Google The number of downloads on Play reached 35,400, an increase of 56% from usual. Among them, the U.S. market contributed 17,300 downloads, an increase of 98% from usual. By April 13 (last Sunday), the number of iOS downloads on DHgate had soared to 117,500, an astonishing 732% increase over the usual period. The U.S. market was particularly prominent, contributing 65,100 downloads, an increase of 940%.

In just a few days, DHgate quickly jumped to the second place in the list of free iPhone apps in the United States, and even topped the list in the shopping software.

Some media ridiculed that although the United States imposed tariffs of up to 245% on certain goods, Chinese e-commerce apps successfully "stole homes" in the United States. This phenomenon not only reflects the high price sensitivity of American consumers, but also demonstrates the strong vitality of cross-border e-commerce in the context of globalization.

|Cross-border logistics chaos: freight forwarders have a black eye

If there is one word to describe the "reciprocal tariff" plan of the United States, the word "chaos" is definitely the best way to sum it up. Beginning on April 2, Trump changed his policy three times in just nine days, and tariffs on Chinese goods soared from 20 percent to a staggering 125 percent.

At the same time, the tariff exclusion policy originally used for small parcels (T86) has also suffered a series of setbacks, not only finalizing the May 2 final abolition deadline, but also quadrupling the fixed tax and ad valorem tax standards.

In the face of this hasty and unprecedentedly aggressive tariff policy, the first to feel the pressure are those logistics service providers who are the first to meet the impact of the policy on the front line of business. For example, the Shanghai export container settlement freight index (US-West route) reached a year-to-date high of 3,210.93 points on January 13, but by April 14 it had plummeted to 1,587.84 points, a decline of more than 50%. According to the statistics of Huatai Futures, in the next four weeks (April 14 to May 11), 13 voyages will be canceled from China to the West and East of the United States, with a total of 26 canceled voyages in one month. This means that the container capacity of the China-US route will be significantly reduced.

These changes are not only a headache for logistics companies, but also a huge pressure on businesses that rely on these routes. Rising transportation costs, combined with lower demand, have affected the entire supply chain. Many businesses have had to re-evaluate their logistics strategies and find new solutions to respond to changing market conditions.

|A two-way rush between U.S. consumers and Chinese factories

Since the Trump administration ignored international trade rules and imposed huge tariffs on Chinese products, many American consumers have begun to bypass traditional retail channels and go directly to Chinese factories to buy goods in response to price pressures. This approach is a bit like the flat economy and affordable procurement that has emerged in China in the past two years - cutting out the middleman to make the difference, and directly going to the cross-border B2B platform to place an order.

At the same time, some Chinese factories and cross-border e-commerce practitioners also saw this opportunity and launched a "two-way rush" with American consumers. On popular short-form video social platforms, many American consumers have recently swiped accounts from manufacturers in China, who have directly shouted at them in the hope that they will buy consumer goods directly from factories.

Imagine that when American consumers log on to cross-border B2B sites like DHgate and see the wholesale prices of products made in China, their consumption outlook may be completely upended. Previously, products made in China mainly served overseas B-end customers, and were not known to many overseas consumers. But when they come into direct contact with the source factories made in China, their perception of products and prices may undergo a reconstruction. Even if these products are subject to tariffs, the price of cross-border direct procurement is still very advantageous compared with the price of the retail end.

The sudden explosion of Dunhuang not only helped many American consumers find cost-effective goods, but also directly drove the rise of domestic cross-border e-commerce concept stocks. The rotation from commodity trading to the capital market shows the strong influence of this "direct source" model.

Of course, it remains to be seen whether Dunhuang, which focuses on cross-border B2B, can catch this huge wave of traffic. For example, issues such as whether "flat" products involve intellectual property risks in overseas markets still need to be further screened.

However, this round of overseas explosion has given many cross-border e-commerce platforms new development ideas: despite the turbulent tariffs, will this cross-border "direct source" model become a new way for domestic and foreign trade factories to expand?

For export enterprises that have long relied on orders for mass production, the lack of domestic distribution network and brand advantage is a big problem. Domestic e-commerce platforms and retail enterprises can make up for this shortcoming and alleviate the problems of inventory backlog and cash flow constraints of foreign trade enterprises. The cooperation between the two parties will not only help stabilize the supply of goods, but also enrich the supply chain and reduce the dependence on a single category or supplier.