China's trade-in programs boost major home appliance sales

China's consumer goods trade-in programs have prompted major companies and e-commerce platforms to offer attractive incentives, driving significant growth in the sales of major home appliances and furniture.

In the city of Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, a number of home furnishing and appliances companies have jointly launched a whole-home trade-in promotion. One home goods mall's "whole-home renewal" discounts have attracted a steady stream of customers.

"I just moved into a new house, and I'm here mainly to check out the whole-home package deals. The salesperson told me that I can get a discount of around 2,000-3,000 yuan (about 280-420 U.S. dollars) by trading in my old items, which is very helpful for me," said a local resident in the mall.

Beyond these home goods malls, some e-commerce platforms have also expanded their trade-in programs offline. An e-commerce mall in Chongqing Municipality neighboring Sichuan is offering up to 20 percent off for trading in old products, as well as promotions like "buy two, get one free" for home appliances.

"Other recyclers only give me a few dozen yuan for my old fridge, which doesn't seem worth it. But the fridge deal offered by the mall can get me at least 400 yuan for the trade-in, which I think is pretty substantial," said a Chongqing resident named Huang Xi.

Data from the Ministry of Commerce shows that China's online retail sales reached 7.1 trillion yuan in the first half of this year, up 9.8 percent. Digital products, service consumption, and trade-in programs have become new growth points. E-commerce platforms have enabled over 400,000 product trade-ins across more than 300 categories, with fridge, washing machine, mobile phone and TV trade-in growth reaching 82.1 percent, 70.4 percent, 63.9 percent and 54.3 percent, respectively.

"During this year's 618 (June 18) Mid-Year Shopping Festival, with the support of the trade-in programs, over 700 home appliance and furniture brands saw their sales double year-over-year. Air conditioner trade-ins had the highest growth, surpassing 200 percent quarter-over-quarter," said Sun Jian, manager of an e-commerce store in Chongqing.

China's trade-in programs boost major home appliance sales

U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday officially blocked Nippon Steel's proposed acquisition of U.S. Steel on national security grounds, which is a decision that could hurt the U.S. economy, said a U.S. scholar.

Biden said Friday that he had decided to block the 14.1 billion U.S. dollars sale of U.S. Steel to the Japanese steel giant, while urging the two steelmakers to "fully and permanently" abandon their plan.

In late 2023, Nippon Steel announced plans to acquire U.S. Steel, which is headquartered in Pennsylvania, one of the key swing states in the 2024 presidential election. Before Biden withdrew from the race, both he and his then-opponent, Donald Trump, had expressed opposition to the acquisition.

In an interview with the China Global Television Network (CGTN), Nicholas Economides, an economics professor from New York University, also talked about President-elect Donald Trump's possible plans once he takes office later this month.

"It is very possible, I might say it's even likely, there will be tariffs and tax incentives and other measures that President-elect Trump will initiate, but I think that overall at present, this is in my opinion, a bad move for the United States. If U.S. steel would accept the merger, then we would have a stronger company - the Japanese and the American company together," said the professor.

As President-elect Donald Trump is only weeks away from taking office, many believe Trump's mantra of tariffs and "America First" are just one big negotiating ploy.

Economides pointed out that tariff is one of the methods Trump uses to protect certain industries of the United States.

"To a large extent, it could be a negotiating tactic. In some cases, though, and specifically specific industries, it might not be a negotiating tactic. Tariffs might be a way to protect the particular industries that Trump thinks are very important for the United States," he said.

Biden's decision to block Nippon Steel's proposed acquisition of US steel plant might hurt economy: scholar