“If you’re a government, you cannot tell people, ‘Sorry, you can’t have air conditioning because we don’t want Chinese overcapacity.’” ‘Too hot for tariffs’Other parts of the world have come to rely on China for air conditioning as well. Even with rising exports, China’s reported second-quarter GDP was the lowest in more than three years. That’s compared to 90% penetration in the US, where Chinese exports would also face tariffs. “In two months people will have forgotten that air conditioning was needed during the summer, but it will come again,” Depoux said.