According to workers who opened up to the FT, trade war had prompted the suspension of production for a week or more at plants making products ranging from shoe soles to jeans, electrical outlets and portable stoves. Some factory owners said they were cutting overtime or weekend work. Wang Xin, head of the Shenzhen Cross-Border E-Commerce Association, an industry group representing more than 2,000 Chinese merchants, said many of them were “extremely anxious” and had told factories and suppliers to halt or delay deliveries. This had prompted some factories to suspend production for one to two weeks, she said. Three factory recruiters in Guangdong who work with manufacturers said more factories were cutting overtime and weekend work with only the most heavily dependent on American orders putting the whole factory on leave. “Our export orders disappeared so we’ve temporarily stopped,” said a 28-year-old plastics factory worker in Fujian province, adding that production had been halted for a week so far. Others are bracing for a much longer shutdown: executives at DeHong Electrical Products in Dongguan, Guangdong province, gave workers one month leave on minimum wage and said the factory was under “significant near-term pressure” after clients suspended orders. “Management is working hard to find solutions, including expanding into new markets and optimising cost structures, so we can resume normal operations as soon as possible,” DeHong said in a notice seen by the Financial Times. As Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said yesterday, "good luck" finding a replacement market that will absorb all your US-based production.