Trump’s Tariffs On China Could Dull His 2020 ‘Keep America Great’ Campaign

Soon after winning the 2016 presidential race under the catchphrase “Make America Great Again,” and taking office in January 2017, President Donald Trump began his campaign for reelection in 2020, the slogan this time around being “Keep America Great.” While MAGA has since become a sign seen frequently — on hats, flags, car bumpers and so on — KAG hasn’t yet caught on, perhaps because the election is still over 2 years away.

However, there is a small chance that the merchandise which makes these slogans popular would find it difficult to reach the hands of Trump supporters, both existing and new, largely due to the new tariffs he has already imposed — and more that he has threatened to impose — on China, the country that produces most of those goods.

Photographs and videos captured by Reuters, which it released Wednesday, show a factory in China’s Anhui province, manufacturing flags for Trump reelection campaign. The flags being manufactured in the Jiahao Flag Co. Ltd. bear the words “Trump -2020- Keep America Great!”

It is difficult to miss the irony in the situation, where Trump has been exhorting companies to create more jobs in and move manufacturing to the United States — one of the platforms that propelled him into the Oval Office — while his own campaign has been importing merchandise from China. For all his exhortations to businesses to build and buy American goods, it seems he needs China for him to be in a position from where he can make such demands.

Manager of the factory, Yao Yuanyuan, told the news agency about 90,000 of the flags had been produced since March at the factory, despite this usually being a season of low demand. According to Yao, the spurt in orders was driven by buyers’ — located both within China and outside — fears of an escalation of a trade war between the world’s two largest economies.

“It’s closely related. They are preparing in advance, they are taking advantage of the fact that the tariffs haven’t gone up yet, with lower prices now,” she told Reuters, referring to $1 it costs for a single flag at current prices.

However, if Trump presses ahead with his threat and Washington actually imposes tariffs on all imports from China, worth over $500 billion, those campaign flags would also be affected and become more expensive, or even unavailable.

“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),” Yao said. “Everyone can have a patriotic heart, but this won’t improve his economy.”

The factory has been doing brisk business since 2015, making flags for Trump’s 2016 MAGA campaign as well. In Yao’s words, “sales have been great ever since” but she wasn’t worried about the threat of tariffs impacting the orders too much. Jiahao Flag Co. Ltd. also makes American flags, as well as flags of several other countries and even specialty banners, like gay pride flags.