Chinese retailers have swiftly moved to capitalize on the recent assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump by launching T-shirts featuring images of the incident. Just hours after Trump was shot at a rally in Pennsylvania, sellers on Chinese e-commerce platforms began offering T-shirts with viral images of the event.
According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), T-shirts commemorating the assassination attempt were available for purchase even before most governments worldwide had responded to the incident. Li Jinwei, a seller on Taobao, reported a surge in orders within hours of listing the items, with over 2,000 orders from both China and the US.
“We put the T-shirts on Taobao as soon as we saw the news about the shooting, though we hadn’t even printed them, and within three hours we saw more than 2,000 orders from both China and the US,” said Li Jinwei. “For this year’s US presidential election, we only made souvenirs of Trump, as he has a higher chance of winning the election, and he is popular among Chinese netizens.”
Li Jinwei noted that producing these T-shirts is a quick process, taking just one minute to print an image downloaded from the internet onto a shirt.
Growing Market for Election-Themed Merchandise
The demand for election-themed merchandise in the US is rising, and Chinese entrepreneurs are keen to meet this demand. Allen Yao, another Chinese entrepreneur, has opened a fully automated factory in California capable of printing 3,000 T-shirts per day.
“The T-shirts are imported from Vietnam and stored in US warehouses, and the production speed is very fast,” said Yao. “Demand is so strong, and we just can’t produce enough.” Yao plans to increase daily production to 8,000 shirts by next month and 30,000 by next year to keep up with the demand.
Data from DHgate, a Chinese e-commerce platform, shows that the transaction volume of election-related souvenirs in the US market has grown by over 40% each month since January 2024. The transaction value of these goods in the first quarter of 2024 was over 90% higher compared to the same period in 2023.
Conclusion
The assassination attempt on Donald Trump has not only stirred political tensions but has also created unexpected business opportunities. Chinese retailers are quickly adapting to the market demand, highlighting the global economic implications of US political events.
