The blistering tariff war launched by Donald Trump this month cast a shadow Tuesday as businesses met to strike deals at a trade show in southern China, for decades a key hub for exports to the United States.

Beijing and Washington have been locked in a fast-moving, high-stakes game of brinkmanship since the US president began his global tariff assault that has particularly targeted Chinese imports.

US duties on China are now at an eye-watering 145 percent, while Beijing has retaliated with a 125 percent toll of its own on US imports.

And the pain is already being felt in China's manufacturing heartland, long dependent on Americans' appetite for cheap goods.

For Hou Keyao, a 29-year-old sales representative at a lights manufacturer based in the southern city of Zhongshan, it all happened "too fast".

Hou's employer, Wosen........

© International Business Times