
Donald Trump has pledged to bring long-lost American manufacturing jobs back from China.

But he may be too late - even for products that bear his family name.

A Chinese company that makes shoes for his daughter's fashion line is moving production to Africa, where labor is much cheaper.

Workers on a production line at the Huajian factory in Dongguan, southern China, where Ivanka Trump-branded shoes have been made over the years

Night-shift workers at the Huajian shoe factory, where about 100,000 pairs of Ivanka Trump-branded shoes have been made over the years, in Dongguan, south China

The billionaire tycoon has frequently accused China of stealing US jobs through unfair trade practices and currency manipulation, while simultaneously relying on the country to make Trump-branded goods.

But the kind of work that goes into making such products may never return to America, says the president of major footwear producer Huajian Group.

Zhang Huarong, speaking in his office in the southern factory hub of Dongguan, said: 'Some manufacturers can't even survive in China any more.'

His company has made about 100,000 pairs of Ivanka Trump-branded shoes over the years, according to spokesman Liu Shiyuan.

In August it filled an order for 20,000 pairs, just weeks after Trump accepted the Republican nomination, with a speech in which he vowed to bring jobs back to the US.

Trump said he planned to impose a 45 per cent tariff on Chinese-made goods.

Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka (left) has supported his campaign for President but has had thousands of her branded shoes manufactured in China

A worker pushes a cart loaded with Ivanka Trump branded shoes at the Huajian shoe factory, in Dongguan, southern China. It takes more than 200 workers to move a single pair of shoes from the concept stage to the loading dock

But Zhang Huarong is one of a growing number of Chinese manufacturers which are moving production to Africa and South-East Asia in search of lower production costs.

In 2012 Mr Zhang opened his first factory in Ethiopia.

Four years later he is building a $1billion facility there and production lines are already humming.

'My goal is to create 30,000 jobs in Ethiopia by 2020, with exports reaching $1billion to $1.5 billion,' he said.

Christopher Balding, professor of economics at Peking University HSBC Business School, says low-skilled manufacturing jobs were prone to being moved to where labour costs were the lowest and he said even though Chinese wages were far beneath the minimum wage in the United States they were still higher than in Africa.

The Trump campaign did not respond to questions from AFP, while Ivanka Trump's company declined to comment.

A worker places the inner soles on a production line at the Huajian factory in China. In the 1940s US firms like Endicott-Johnson produced 52million pairs of shoes a year and employed 20,000 people in New York state. Its last factory in the US closed in 1998

A worker at the Huajian factory in China. Manufacturers in the US and Europe have struggled to compete with companies from China

Donald Trump has frequently accused China of stealing US jobs through unfair trade practices and currency manipulation, while simultaneously relying on the country to make Ivanka Trump-branded goods

Huajian's shoes are a fraction of the more than 1,200 shipments of Trump-branded products that have flowed into the US from China and Hong Kong over the last decade, according to an examination of US import data by Our Principles PAC, an anti-Trump political action committee.

Trump has defended his family's decision to license its name to companies that make the goods - from shoes to ties to dress shirts - in China as smart business, while slamming other US firms such as Ford and Nabisco for offshoring.

Manufacturing of the products is handled by third parties.

US-based Marc Fisher Footwear, which makes Ivanka Trump branded shoes, did not respond to requests for comment.

In a interview with CNN last year Trump said: 'It's very, very hard to have anything in apparel made in this country.'

Mr Zhang agrees: 'Americans say "a lot of shoes are being made in China". But it's because the US is worse at making shoes.'

Workers are seen during a lunch break in the canteen at the Huajian shoe factory. Many of the employees could face redundancy as production is moved to Ethiopia

A worker makes a phone call at his dormitory after a shift at the Huajian shoe factory in Dongguan

These shoes, which will proudly display the Ivanka Trump brand, will probably end up in US shopping malls

Workers wash their hands after dinner outside the canteen at the Huajian factory in Dongguan

He said some US companies may bring back some production that can be easily automated but the laborious handwork required to make fashionable women's shoes will always go to the lowest bidder.

Even his factory has had to move up the value chain over the years, expanding into design work, with dozens of staff - mostly middle-aged men - now designing pumps, thigh-high boots, and kitten heels for overseas customers.

At the Dongguan factory, which employs some 15,000 people, it takes as many as 200 workers to move a single pair of shoes from the concept stage to the loading dock.

Workers relax in their dormitory room after a shift at the Huajian shoe factory in south China, which employs some 15,000 people. But production is gradually heading to Africa

The shoes made by Chinese workers in the Huajian factory are a fraction of the more than 1,200 shipments of Trump-branded products that have flowed into the US from China over the last decade

On lunch break at the plant, Cao Jian said he made 3,200 yuan ($480) a month heeling shoes - about average for the area.

The 20-year-old said he was satisfied with this wage, but many workers in the world's second largest economy are demanding more.

Industrial action has increased across China in recent years, up almost 19 per cent year-on-year with 1,867 strikes in the first eight months of 2016, according to the Hong Kong-based China Labor Bulletin.

Huajian, a Chinese company that makes shoes for Ivanka Trump's fashion line, is moving production to Africa, where Chinese and Ethiopian workers (pictured) work closely together

Ethiopian and Chinese workers side by side at Huajian's shoe factory on the outskirts of Addis Ababa. Chinese workers are often brought in to train Ethiopians

Factory owners have found themselves squeezed between demand for higher wages and falling growth, as China's economy expanded at its slowest rate in a quarter century last year and has continued to slow.

Mr Zhang said he can hired five Ethiopians for the price of one Chinese worker.

That is why the company is building a 'light industrial city' shaped like a woman's shoe in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, he said.

A Chinese worker directs Ethiopian workers at Huajian's giant new factory on the outskirts of Addis Ababa

Huajian has already moved production to Ethiopia. These Ethiopian workers (pictured) at a factory on the outskirts of Addis Ababa earn much less than their counterparts in China, which is why the firm is moving production from China to Ethiopia

The sprawling campus will feature factories, dormitories, a hotel and a hospital, all bounded by a replica of the Great Wall.

He said the kind of manufacturing work he plans to do there is 'too low-value' for Americans.