The falling number of bikes being imported to the US from China has been highlighted in figures from the China Bicycle Association, with exports to the US market down 17 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025. Globally however, China’s bicycle exports have continued to grow and were up 15.5 per cent in the first three months of 2025, with strong demand reported from other parts of the world.
It is likely the impact of Donald Trump’s tariffs on Chinese exports to the US will be most apparent in the figures for Q2 (April-June), these Q1 figures related to the January-March period immediately prior to the president’s controversial economic policy taking effect in the early days of April.
However, the China Bicycle Association has reported industry figures for 2024 and the first months of 2025 at the country’s largest cycling expo, China Cycle 2025, in Shanghai.
Last year, China’s bicycle production almost hit 100 million (99.54m), with exports up 20.7 per cent to 47.81 million. This growth continued into the first few months of 2025, even with the US uncertainty, and exports grew 15.5 per cent in Q1 compared with the same months last year. Componentry and parts exports were also up 13.7 per cent, according to China Daily who reported the association’s figures.
The decline in exports to the US was reported at 17.1 per cent in Q1, the overall growth in exports put down to strengthening demand in Japan, Russia, Indonesia, Canada, Malaysia, Iraq and Central Asian countries. The China Bicycle Association says exports to Canada were up 117.5 per cent in Q1, while it told Global Times that export growth was assisted by “actively exploring emerging markets, including European and Belt and Road Initiative partner countries”.
Continued growth in demand from Chinese cyclists was cited as a significant factor in race bike imports growing 12.5 per cent in 2024, the China Bicycle Association reporting to the expo that there has been a boom in cycling for both transport and leisure, driving the demand for e-bikes and race bikes in particular.
While the Q2 figures will be more telling for the impact of Trump’s tariffs on imports from China, much of the talk from the expo has unsurprisingly been about the economic policy and its impact on manufacturers and customers.
Zhang Xiaoli, a manager from Winspace reported: “Many US buyers are still placing orders aggressively, almost like tactical gambles. They’re hoping that US-China negotiations will wipe out tariffs by the time their orders ship. It’s a high-stakes wait-and-see game for American buyers.
“Previously, America was our top market, but now we’re seeing this interesting shift where European orders are showing steady growth.”
With November 2024 to February 2025 seeing a surge in shipments from China to the US in a bid to beat the tariffs, it is likely the Q2 figures will paint a significantly different picture to Q1’s decrease of ‘just’ 17 per cent.
The impact of Trump’s tariffs on business has been the big talking point in the bike industry this year, numerous brands such as Trek, Specialized and Giant raising prices in the US as a result.
Last month, Brompton boss Will Butler-Adams called the tariffs “naive”, with the folding bike brand’s US prices also likely to rise.
Silca sold out of its new electric pumps almost instantly, the brand blaming the “global tariff issues” for the product being “not currently economically viable” in the US, meaning that just 100 would be available to its American market.
Meanwhile, on Friday, a trade association representing the cycling industry in the United States claimed that the tariff trade war could lead to bike helmets becoming less affordable, leaving children “unprotected from potential injury”.
