San Francisco Chinatown Leaders Push Back Against Trump’s Trade War

The Trump administration’s trade war with China could prove to be even more devastating to businesses in San Francisco’s Chinatown than the pandemic.

That’s according to Donald Luu, president of the San Francisco Chinese Chamber of Commerce, who told KQED the administration’s steep tariffs on Chinese goods — of up to 145% — are creating a nearly impossible situation for the more than 1,000 mostly small businesses in this historic immigrant community.

Speaking at a Tuesday press event on Clay Street, in the heart of Chinatown, Luu said about 90% of goods sold there are from China, and the tariffs have already forced many merchants to raise their prices by at least 30%.

“With this economic trade war, we feel that the effect’s going to be long-lasting and it’s going to threaten the very fabric of Chinatown,” said Luu, flanked by local business leaders and state Assemblymember Matt Haney, who represents the community.

Magan Li, the owner of Lion Trading, which sells religious and spiritual items, said nearly all the products lining her shelves come from China. As costs skyrocket, she said she can only increase prices so much before customers refuse to pay.

“This is a very, very big blow to our small business,” said Li in Cantonese. “We’re at risk of losing the traditions that the community has spent so much time protecting. And so I hope that the government will work something out and help small businesses like us to continue to thrive.”

Chinese exports to the U.S. have plummeted amid the administration’s outsized tariffs (and China’s reciprocal 125% import duties on U.S. products), prompting major U.S. retailers and small businesses alike to sound the alarm about imminent supply shortages. The Port of Los Angeles, a major entry point for Chinese goods, has seen that drop firsthand, leading its director to recently predict that cargo shipments to the port will drop by 35% within a few weeks.

None of that bodes well for businesses in San Francisco’s Chinatown, the oldest and largest of its kind in the country, which has been reluctantly thrust onto the frontlines of Trump’s escalating trade war.

“I think Chinatown is at the center of why these tariffs are so harmful and how devastating they’re going to be — not to another country’s government, but to us here, in our country,” Haney said on Tuesday.

Many products sold here can’t be found anywhere else in the city, he said.

“This is a direct attack on these businesses, and it’s a direct attack on our residents who rely on this community,” Haney said. “This is where they get their medicine. This is where they get their clothing. This is where they get their goods to cook.”

Haney said that if the administration refuses to relent on the tariffs, Gov. Gavin Newsom has indicated he would begin negotiating directly with China on a California trade agreement.

“It’s unfortunate that California is increasingly having to act like our own country, negotiating trade agreements with countries and trying to find ways to reduce the cost of these imports,” said Haney, who noted California’s recent lawsuit against the administration over the tariffs. “Because our businesses, our economy, cannot survive without these imports, especially coming from Asia.”

The trade war has pushed Chinatown merchants into an existential crisis, Malcolm Yeung, executive director of the Chinatown Community Development Center, told KQED for a recent story profiling several local business owners.

“ This has always been a community that has been built around trade,” he said, noting the resiliency of the district throughout its long history. “Trade created an opportunity for upward economic mobility for people through owning stores, or by leveraging relationships that they have back in China.”

KQED’s Cami Dominguez and Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman contributed reporting.