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Donald Trump started putting tariffs on Chinese goods as president in 2018 in an effort to reduce the trade deficit. One response in Beijing was to launch a giant annual trade fair focused on imports. Now Trump is coming back. America's trade deficit with China persists. And as NPR's John Ruwitch found out, things at the import show are a little more complicated.
JOHN RUWITCH, BYLINE: The China International Import Expo is held every November in a purpose-built exhibition hall in Shanghai. It's impressive.
And this complex is just a vast clover, like, a four-leaf-clover-shaped building that's got to be the size of several stadiums. It's just humongous.
There are several halls the size of airplane hangars, showcasing everything from Japanese down jackets to American airplane engines. Hubert Szczesniak came from Poland.
HUBERT SZCZESNIAK: My company designs steel structures like swimming pools.
RUWITCH: The firm was founded earlier this year, and Szczesniak says they only sell in Poland now.
SZCZESNIAK: I think the Polish market is not enough. So the export is needed.
RUWITCH: But his first trade fair has been a humbling experience. I ask if he's seen much interest in his products here.
SZCZESNIAK: Not as much as I expected, but some of clients asking of our products.
RUWITCH: Are you optimistic?
SZCZESNIAK: Right now I'm less optimistic than on the beginning of the year.
RUWITCH: Traders like him face big uncertainties. Trump has promised more tariffs not just on China but on everyone. And in China, growth that was long powered by real estate and infrastructure investment has slowed. Domestic demand remains weak, and the government has not implemented aggressive stimulus or reforms. Dan Rosen is with the Rhodium Group.
DAN ROSEN: The question, you know, for the common guy in business - and woman - is, what's going to take the place of these drivers of yesteryear to produce the Chinese growth model of the future? And so that's kind of what we're waiting to see what's going to happen next.
(SOUNDBITE OF PING PONG BALL BOUNCING)
RUWITCH: In a nearby hall at the import fair, a man plays ping pong against a machine. Evans Hao is a senior marketing manager with the Japanese industrial conglomerate Toray Industries. He says China's sluggish economy and Trump's reelection are definitely risks that hang over business conditions.
EVANS HAO: (Speaking Mandarin).
RUWITCH: But he puts on a brave face and he says he's confident there'll be opportunities. I ask him if he's made any sales.
HAO: (Speaking Mandarin).
RUWITCH: "The import expo is mostly an opportunity to showcase what kind of company Toray is," he says. The Chinese government says the expo has been a success. The value of, quote, "intended deals" struck at the expo exceeded $80 billion. What those deals are, though, and whether they bear fruit remains to be seen. In a section of the expo full of booths put on by national delegations rather than companies, people are thinking about much more than just Chinese imports.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SHELLY ANNE BATISTE: This is the steelpan, which is our national instrument.
RUWITCH: Shelly Anne Batiste is here from Trinidad and Tobago. And, yes, she says she's here to try to sell steelpans and other products, like Angostura bitters and chocolate. But she's also trying to drum up investment in her country and promote tourism.
BATISTE: So after you come to Trinidad and you do the business, then you can come to Tobago and relax. So that's what we're selling. We are optimistic. We are forever optimistic.
RUWITCH: It's a catch-all approach, which she says is key, along with a positive attitude at a time when the future is looking a little less certain. John Ruwitch, NPR News, Shanghai.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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