"KEEP America Great." Donald Trump is preparing for the mid-term elections later this year, and that's what he intends to put on his banners. But the thing is, they're being manufactured in eastern China, and will be hit with his own punitive tariffs when they make their way stateside. Sun Tianyuan has the story.

There's little evidence of a trade war at the Jiahao Flag Company in Anhui province. Workers bustle and sewing machines hum. A current hot-seller, blue and white banners declaring the centerpiece of Trump's re-election campaign.

SUN LIJUN, WORKER JIAHAO FLAG FACTORY "What I'm making here now is a Trump banner. I know that he's the U.S. president. Every day we must produce over 1,000 of these. We've already made so many batches of them."

The banners highlight a paradox in US-China relations under the current Trump administration. At about one dollar apiece, even the suppliers to the Trump campaign can't resist the low price. The Factory also made banners for his 2016 campaign and said its business has been great since then.

"Buy American and hire American."

Trump has long railed against Chinese imports, and launched a controversial trade strategy this year to punish Beijing. Yet his move is merely "making America more expensive". The US Department of Commerce said flags and other textile products would be subject to a 10 percent levy. One seller said that would be enough to double the price of a "Make America Great Again" hat, to 20 dollars a pop. And his hard-line stance toward China could eventually repel suppliers, like the Jiahao Flag Company.

YAO YUANYUAN, GENERAL MANAGER JIAHAO FLAG FACTORY "Personally, this is my own feeling but if he continues to demand tariff increases as he has been doing, I definitely would not be able to accept more orders. That's because everyone can have a patriotic heart, so we won't let him improve his own economy, while us Chinese just shoot ourselves in the foot."

"I know that Trump's tariffs targeting China will have some effect, but we're not worried at all since we're producing foreign flags every single day."

If Trump's mid-term election rallies have no flags to fly, there's only one man to blame. CGTN.