Amid escalating trade tensions between China and the United States, some Chinese exporters are taking the drastic step of ditching shipments mid-voyage and surrendering containers to shipping companies to avoid crushing tariff costs.

Industry insiders have dubbed the move “preparing for the Long March”, a grim metaphor for what many see as a prolonged and punishing downturn in cross-Pacific trade.

A staff member at a China-listed export company, who requested anonymity, said its US-bound container volume had plummeted from 40 to 50 containers a day to just three to six as a result of the new tariffs on Chinese imports imposed by the second Trump administration. It has increased tariffs by 104 per cent this year, taking the total impost to around 115 per cent.

The new tariffs have triggered a backlash from Beijing and sent shock waves through global markets.

“We’ve halted all shipping plans from the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia,” the employee said. “Every factory order is halted. Anything that hasn’t been loaded will be scrapped, and the cargo already at sea is being re-costed.”

One client had told the company it was abandoning goods already on the water and giving them to the shipping company, as “no one will buy them after the tariffs are imposed”.

The company’s leadership had returned to China to manage a flood of order cancellations and had instructed its staff to suspend all container business until tariffs stabilise or alternative markets are secured.

“The loss on every container we ship is now greater than the profit we used to make from shipping two,” the employee said. “Who’s going to keep doing this?

“We’re mentally preparing for the worst. There won’t be any recovery in the short term – probably not until the middle of next year.”

The company has now begun shifting its focus to Europe and Japan, seeking safer waters amid the trade storm.

China, the world’s largest exporter, was the second-biggest source of US imports last year, sending US$439 billion worth of goods to America. US exports to China were worth just $144 billion.

With the escalating US-China tariff war already taking a heavy toll on Asian exporters, many American buyers are pulling out amid fears of soaring costs, prompting order cancellations said to be totalling as many as 300 containers a day for some manufacturers.

Facing steep new levies and an uncertain market, exporters are also scaling back operations. Factories have been reported to be cutting working hours and to have asked employees to take fewer shifts. The anonymous staff member at the China-listed firm said its US branch had begun laying off frontline workers as demand collapses.

Industry experts warned that shippers face a lose-lose situation, as shipping now could mean absorbing steep tariffs if they are not lifted, but waiting could expose them to even higher rates if tensions continue to rise.