The Trump trade war has gone viral on TikTok, pushing a Chinese e-commerce app, DHgate, to the top of the U.S. App Store.
After Trump increased U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports by 145%, numerous Chinese suppliers and manufacturers began making TikTok videos explaining to consumers how the global luxury goods market actually works. The clothing, handbags, and other accessories that many people assumed were made in Europe originate from factories in China, the videos explain.
As a result of the trend, the Chinese wholesale marketplace app DHgate surged to become the No. 3 top free iPhone app in the U.S. App Store as of Monday morning.
For comparison, the app was ranked No. 352 in the top non-game free iPhone apps category in the U.S. as of Friday, April 11, before jumping to No. 6 on Sunday and No. 3 on Monday, according to data from app intelligence provider Appfigures. On Monday, DHgate also climbed to No. 3 on the Top Overall chart for free iPhone apps, including games.
The firm tells TechCrunch that on Saturday, April 12, the DHgate app was downloaded 35,400 times across the App Store and Google Play, a 56% increase from its 30-day average. The U.S. accounted for 17,300 of those installs, a jump of 98% over the 30-day average.
On Sunday, April 13, those installs increased to 117,500 on iOS, up 732% from the 30-day average. The U.S. accounted for 65,100 of those downloads, up 940%. (Android download data for Sunday isn’t available yet.)
DHgate is a cross-border e-commerce company connecting both businesses and consumers to suppliers and manufacturers in China and other markets. Today, it offers an inventory of over 30 million products across categories like electronics, home and toys, shoes and apparel, jewelry, health and beauty, and more, its website states.
The demand for the app grew out of the TikTok viral trend where Chinese manufacturers began revealing their secrets to the American public. Following this trend, other online creators began telling their viewers that the DHgate app is a source for buying luxury goods before a brand has added its label to the product.
In reality, it can be difficult for consumers to tell which factories are the originals contracted by the luxury brands and which are just making copies, also known as dupes. However, online communities like r/DHgate on Reddit can sometimes offer help on that front.
In one popular TikTok video, a Chinese manufacturer claims that the majority of the world’s luxury bags are made in China, but the bags are then sent to the brands’ factories in Europe, where the label is added and the bag is repackaged. That way, the bags appear as though they’re “made in Italy” or “made in France,” the video’s creator claims.
In another video, that same creator, @senbags2, explains that a $38,000 Birkin bag is made for just around $1,400 and that consumers are just paying for the logo and fancy packaging. (The creator’s TikTok account has since been taken down, but numerous stitches and reuploads remain.)
Videos from other creators focused on luxury categories like clothing and jewelry. Brands like Hermès, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, and others were mentioned in the videos, as were midrange brands like Lululemon, Tommy Hilfiger, Lacoste, and Hugo Boss.
The point of the videos is to stress that the U.S. is more dependent on China than it may realize, as even brands U.S. consumers thought were high-end European products are being manufactured in the country. It’s not all fast fashion and cheap electronics like those found on Shein or TikTok Shop.
Of course, this is not news to anyone who understands the global supply chain, but the videos prompted TikTok users to seek out a way to buy directly from the manufacturers in China, leading them to DHgate and other apps that connect to the Chinese market. A similar app, Taobao, became the No. 10 overall free iPhone app on Monday.
Using DHgate is not really a solution for avoiding Trump’s tariffs, as any Chinese imports to the U.S. would still be impacted by tariffs outside of some exceptions in electronics — for now. But the backlash from the Chinese manufacturers who made these videos was triggered by the tariff increases.
As one TikTok commenter quipped, these trends are the result of the U.S. claiming to hold all the cards in the trade war, leading China to respond, “We make all the cards.”
Sarah has worked as a reporter for TechCrunch since August 2011. She joined the company after having previously spent over three years at ReadWriteWeb. Prior to her work as a reporter, Sarah worked in I.T. across a number of industries, including banking, retail and software.
