Mere minutes after an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, Chinese retailers were already capitalizing on the incident by producing and listing merchandise featuring the now-famous image of the former president with his ear bloodied and his fist raised. The image, released by The Associated Press, shows Trump surrounded by Secret Service agents. Within hours, these products were available for purchase on China's popular e-commerce platform, Taobao.

One listing found on Taobao, reviewed by NBC News, showed a T-shirt being sold for around $6. The seller described it as a "Trump T-shirt, Trump peripheral products, Trump in prison mugshot, cotton short sleeve, never give in, loose, fashion." Surprisingly, at least 72 people had already made purchases. Chinese retailers proved their efficiency by swiftly downloading the image and commencing production within one or two hours.

A 25-year-old Taobao seller revealed that her T-shirt listings were already prepared by breakfast-time in China. Li Jinwei stated, "We put the T-shirts on Taobao as soon as we saw the news about the shooting, though we hadn't even printed them. Within three hours, we saw more than 2,000 orders from both China and the U.S."

By Tuesday, most of these listings had been removed from Taobao, raising speculation about why they were taken down. It is likely that the politically sensitive nature of the shooting prompted action from Chinese authorities, who frequently censor online content. Although the Chinese internet regulator, Cyberspace Administration of China, was not immediately available for comment, business school professor Jinmin Wang acknowledged the tensions between the two governments and the sensitivity of the event.

While Alibaba, the owner of Taobao, did not respond to NBC News' request for comment, other Trump memorabilia, including red hats bearing the slogan "Make America Great Again," remained available on the platform. Trump continues to hold appeal on Chinese social media sites, where he is jokingly referred to as "Uncle Trump" or "Old Man Trump."

Chinese people have shown a keen interest in political and economic events in the United States, with some harboring the American dream. Saturday's shooting became a trending subject on Weibo, a popular Chinese social media platform, attracting tens of millions of views and comments. The strained relationship between the U.S. and China, stemming from the trade war initiated during Trump's presidency, and his controversial actions such as referring to the coronavirus as the "Chinese virus" and ending Hong Kong's preferential economic treatment, have intensified this interest.

Although the assassination attempt merchandise is no longer available on Chinese platforms, their American counterparts like Amazon and Etsy have caught up and are now selling similar hoodies and T-shirts with various designs and captions. The incident has once again highlighted the quick response and opportunistic nature of retailers, capitalizing on significant events to meet the demands of consumers.