Trump supporters may pay more for his 2020 campaign flags thanks to China trade war

A Chinese company producing flags for Donald Trump's re-election said merchandisers are buying in bulk ahead of the president's tariffs

A worker poses for pictures as she makes flags for U.S. President Donald Trump's "Keep America Great!" 2020 re-election campaign at Jiahao flag factory in Fuyang, Anhui province, China July 24, 2018. (REUTERS)

Chinese factory workers are already hard at work creating thousands of enormous flags to promote Donald Trump's 2020 presidential re-election campaign.

However, his voters could end up paying more for the new merchandise — most of which reads "Keep America Great!" — thanks to the president’s self-started trade wars with China.

The Jiahao Flag company, located in eastern China, reported an unusual increase in its production of the campaign flags before the president’s newly-announced tariffs went into effect, citing the potential for prices to increase as to why sales were currently booming.

"They are preparing in advance, they are taking advantage of the fact that the tariffs haven’t gone up yet, with lower prices now," Yao Yuanyuan, a manager of the flag company, told Reuters. "If he continues to demand tariff increases as he has been, or if he continues to agree with those who are against China, I definitely would not be able to accept [more orders]."

The trade wars have escalated in recent weeks after the White House initially announced $34bn in tariffs against Chinese goods. When Beijing responded to that announcement with $34bn worth of tariffs of their own, Mr Trump's administration then placed an additional $200bn of levies against Chinese products.

(Reuters (Reuters)

The president has threatened to increase those retaliations, and his tariffs could eventually cause prices for goods from China to the US to rise. In an ironic twist, his own campaign merchandise would likely be included among those increasing price tags.

"Everyone can have a patriotic heart, but this won’t improve his economy, and instead it could make us Chinese just shoot ourselves in the foot," Ms YuanYuan said.

Workers make flags for U.S. President Donald Trump's "Keep America Great!" 2020 re-election campaign at Jiahao flag factory in Fuyang, Anhui province, China July 24, 2018. (Reuters)

Recent photos taken at the Jiahao Flag company factory show workers threading, sewing and folding large flags and signs with Mr Trump’s 2020 campaign slogan emblazoned over blue and white colouring.

The company that provides these flags to merchandisers reportedly charges just $1, and also creates rainbow gay pride flags and other international signs.

The factory has already produced over 90,000 flags and banners for Mr Trump’s re-election campaign, a staggering number compared to its usual orders prior to a presidential campaign season in the US.

The president campaigned on a “buy and hire American” policy which encourages US companies to produce their products and merchandise in America, rather than foreign factories in places like China.