A worker moves packages at an international e-commerce goods warehouse near the Hairun Container Terminal on July 3, 2025. Photo: Tao Mingyang/GT

On a recent afternoon at a cross-border e-commerce cargo logistics center near the Hairun Container Terminal in Xiamen, East China's Fujian Province, stacks of boxes in various shapes and sizes filled the warehouse, workers skillfully maneuvered forklifts and trolleys through the maze of shipments. As one of the main logistics hubs operated by Xiamen Port Logistics Co, the site handles thousands of parcels each day, ready to be sorted, packed, and shipped overseas. 

Where were all these packages headed? A small white label attached to each boxes reveal the answer: New York, Illinois, Florida, Indiana and many more US states. What were inside the boxes? The Global Times learned that various kinds of "Made in China" products are currently in hot demand in the US, including pet carriers, hair accessories, colorful paper envelopes, mattresses and bird feeders.  

This created a striking scene against the backdrop of profound disruptions the US tariff policy has caused for global trade.

Yang Kaimo, manager of the customer service department of Xiamen Port Logistics Co, said that the logistic park where he is based is mainly responsible for gathering goods across China and sending them to warehouses in the US, Europe, Australia and Southeast Asia, and the boxes in the warehouse were mostly headed for the US. 

"We help our clients export various types of e-commerce goods, which shows that 'Made in China' products remain vastly popular among global consumers," Yang told the Global Times in a recent interview, noting that while some US clients have adopted a wait-and-see approach due to the tariffs, orders have seen stable growth.  

Notably, orders rebounded after China and the US China and the US released a joint statement on modifying and removing part of mutual tariff on May 12, 2025, Yang said, adding that he immediately received phone calls from both domestic and US clients to arrange cargo shipments. 

Meanwhile, amid stable growth in cross-border e-commerce, a shipping route from the Xiamen Port to the West Coast of the US has been recently resumed. On May 23, Israeli shipping company ZIM resumed operations on one of its major routes, the ZX2 Express Line. Following the China-US tariff adjustments, demand for routes to the US West Coast surged, pushing up freight rates from Xiamen to major American ports, according to a report by Fujian Daily. The report noted that ZIM's resumption of the ZX2 Express Line offers stable logistics for e-commerce and signals growing optimism for a China-US trade recovery.

ZIM's cargo ship Colorado departed from the Xiamen International Container Terminals carrying a wide-range of e-commerce goods, including electronics, clothes and household supplies, to the Port of Los Angeles, according to the report. 

The ZIM ZX2 Express Line will operate five 5,300-5,500 TEU vessels, linking Xiamen, Shanghai, Ningbo in East China's Zhejiang Province, and Los Angeles. With a 17-18-day transit from Xiamen to Los Angeles, the route meets the time-sensitive needs of e-commerce shipments, the report noted.

However, despite these activities, overall trade between China and the US have been disrupted by the US tariff policy. 

China's trade with the US fell 9.3 percent year-on-year to reach 2.08 trillion yuan ($290.16 billion) in the first half of the year, according to Wang Lingjun, deputy director of the General Administration of Customs (GAC) on Monday, who noted that bilateral trade has shown signs of recovery following positive developments in the Geneva and London economic and trade talks.

Despite the decline in China-US trade, China's import and export remain overall stable in the first half, thanks to rising trade with other parts of the world, according to GAC data. 

China's imports and exports of goods rose 2.9 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2025, reaching $3.04 trillion. Notably, China's trade with Belt and Road Initiative partner countries, ASEAN, the European Union, South Korea and Japan all witnessed positive growth. In the first six months, China's trading partners became increasingly diverse, Wang said.