Hong Kong tycoon Victor Fung Kwok-king former chairman of supply chain management conglomerate Fung Group, warned on Tuesday that consumers around the world will ultimately bear the cost of a de facto 20 per cent tariff in global trade.
Speaking at the Global Supply Chain Business Summit 2025 held by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology’s Li & Fung Supply Chain Institute, the 80-year-old said the global trading environment was converging towards an average tariff rate of about 20 per cent on most goods, even though major economies such as China and India remained uncertain outliers.
The added costs, Fung said, would eventually “feed through to consumers”, amounting in effect to a “20 per cent tax” on goods.
That would shift the demand curve, ultimately reducing the volume of trade, he said, adding that the impact on consumers would be felt “probably within one or two years”.
Fung is one of the world’s best-known experts in supply chain management. At a symposium in 2024, he shared with President Xi Jinping his vision for how Hong Kong could develop into a multinational supply chain centre for mainland companies amid shifting global trade patterns.
His latest comments come as the Trump administration is re-embracing tariffs as a key tool to rebalance trade with major partners.