Six months into Donald Trump’s trade war, the resilience of Chinese exports is proving just how essential many of its products remain even after US levies of 55%.

Every day, about a billion dollars worth of goods is crossing the Pacific from China to the US, with the amount ticking up in September from August. Despite double-digit drops in the value of overall trade during the past half a year, some products have recently seen an increase from 2024, defying trade strains between Beijing and Washington.

The upshot is that US tariffs appear somewhat limited in their ability to control what American firms import, as China’s sway over sectors such as rare earths and electronics makes its products hard to dislodge, at least in the short term. That may change over time, especially if Trump further hikes tariffs, as the Republican leader has repeatedly threatened to do.

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