Protests are spreading across China by factory workers demanding back pay after President Donald Trump's tariffs on Chinese imports have caused the closure of factories there, the New York Post reported on Tuesday.
Chinese industry leaders are "extremely anxious" about the situation, with many telling factories to stop or delay supplies, Wang Xin, head of an industry group representing more than 2,000 Chinese merchants, told the Financial Times.
Goldman Sachs analysts have said that at least 16 million jobs across many industries in the communist nation are at risk due to Trump's policies, according to the South China Morning Post.
"It's not easy at the moment," a Chinese toy factory worker told the Financial Times. His employer, in Zhejiang, mostly sells to the United States, and management recently forced workers to take two weeks off unpaid due to the impact of the tariffs.
There have been other signs that Chinese authorities have acknowledged that the tariffs are heavily damaging the country's economy, the New York Post reported, with the nation's factory activity last month showing its steepest contraction in 16 months, while new export orders fell to their lowest levels in three years.
In response, China's President Xi Jinping has traveled to neighboring countries in Southeast Asia as he seeks closer ties with Vietnam, Cambodia, and Malaysia, while China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi has reached out to his counterparts in the U.K. and the European Union.
Trump has insisted things were going "fine with China," although it remains unclear whether any meeting with Xi will take place this week, with the president telling reporters that he has no plans to do so.