Made-in-China still dominates US holiday sales, but do Americans even care?
- The especially active holiday-shopping season in the United States has been a boon for China exports despite years of political and trade frictions between the countries
- November shipments from China to the US marked the first year-on-year rise in 16 months, but some major Chinese retailers still find it hard to ‘sell’ China to the US public
American consumer Rebecca Watts Dean notices the origin of a holiday gift only if she happens to peek at the tag for an unrelated reason – like checking the washing instructions on a piece of clothing.
East-West relations aside, she doesn’t particularly care if a toy or garment for her grandchildren is made in China.
“It’s not like, if something is made in China, I’ll put it back on the shelf,” said Watts Dean, a 55-year-old substitute teacher from the outskirts of Fort Worth, Texas. “I just think that – for a number of years – most of the stuff we have is made in China.”
Watts Dean typifies the American holiday consumer, buying goods that are made-in-wherever. And the ubiquity of such indifference in the States during an especially active shopping season is helping China’s exports to the US hold steady despite years of political and trade frictions.
Meanwhile, Chinese exporters are so often using third countries, such as Mexico and Vietnam, to ship goods to the US that it can be hard for consumers to know where an item really originated.