Just days after China’s state-owned news media went viral with videos about fat Americans working on production lines, social media has exploded with videos claiming the communist country actually manufactures many of the luxury items Americans crave.

From prestigious foreign brands such as Hermès, Prada, and Chanel to sought after fitness apparel like Lululemon and Under Armour, the videos say it’s all secretly made in China — for a fraction of the cost Americans later shell out.

“Your ‘Made in Italy’ Gucci? Eighty percent come from Chinese factories. They just add the logo in Europe to make you pay the price of 10 times,” one young Chinese woman says in an X video. “Close your eyes. If your Hermes says, ‘Made in China,” does it feel cheaper? No, there’s no quality issue — It’s luxury brainwashing.”

“Fun fact: The hands stitching your Prada? Forty-two percent are Chinese artisans. We don’t do cheap, we do underrated luxury. Why pay 2,000 euro for ‘Parisian air’? Same leather, same craft, just without the European fairytale tax,” the woman says before listing a slew of online sites where people can purportedly buy the same products for far less than the designer brands.

President Trump this month announced an increase in tariffs on goods manufactured in China, raising rates to 145 percent. In response, China retaliated with its own tariff hike, raising rates on U.S. goods to 125 percent. With price hikes expected as U.S. companies pass on the cost of tariffs, China is flooding social media with ways consumers can buy directly from the country.

One viral TikTok video, shared by News Nexus Official, details the cost breakdown of Hermès’ iconic Birkin bag. A Chinese manufacturer dissects the production costs, showing that the individual components — including hardware, leather, and thread — only amount to $1,400 in cost. Yet once the bags are branded and sold by Hermès, they carry retail price tags ranging from $10,000 to $100,000.

“More than 90 percent of the price of the bag is paid for its logo,” the male manufacturer says. “If you don’t care about the logo but just want the same material, the same quality, you can just buy from us, because for our bags we use exactly the same material, same leather, same hardware.”

Yet in a factcheck, Newsweek said Hermes does not manufacture their bags in China, but instead in France. “Hermès uses its own tanneries to ensure quality control all the way from hide to handbag.” the piece says. Other major brands like Prada and Saint Laurant, are made in Italy. 

“While the TikTok video claims that luxury bags are made in China, this is also very unlikely under labelling regulations in the U.S. and in the EU,” the report said. On the other hand, “a product can be labelled ‘Made in Italy’ if the last substantial transformation of the product took place in Italy.”

Another TikToker took aim at clothing companies popular in America. “Who are the suppliers behind Lululemon?” a woman asks before claiming two production plants in China make much of the apparel. “These two factories also supply clothing for Fila and Under Armour.”

On the yoga attire brand, the woman says, “they sell you legging pants for up to $100, but guess what? Here in these two factories you can get them for around five or six bucks. Crazy. What’s even better, the material and the craftsmanship are basically the same because they all come from the same production line.”

“This is why people come to China looking for the OEM factors, because they just can’t get the cheapest and best quality product from here,” she says at the end of the video.

Last week, China’s state-run media mocked Mr. Trump and his new stiff tariffs against the communist nation with AI-generated videos featuring dancing robots and distressed American consumers.

In one three-minute video titled “Liberation Day” — the term Mr. Trump used when he announced global tariffs last week — an AI female sings “You promised us the stars, but tariffs killed our cheap Chinese cars.” As the camera shows a dejected American woman sitting at a kitchen table, the voice sings, “Groceries cost a kidney, gas a lung. Your deals? Just hot air from your tongue.”

The video on the website of China’s CGTN, a state-run English-language broadcaster, shows images of automobile production plants and, weirdly, humanoid robots dancing on fire-ravaged streets. “You taxed each truck, you taxed each tire. Midwest burnin’ in your dumpster fire,” the automated voice sings.