Water export rate of shelf seas is a pivotal factor impacting the global carbon cycle. Tides have important impacts on shelf hydrodynamics but are excluded in many climate models. To assess the effect of tides on export rates of shelf water, this study used a regional hydrodynamic model and a water residence time (WRT) adjoint model and examined model runs with and without tides for the eastern shelf seas of China. The results show that the average WRTs in the Bohai, Yellow, and East China seas were 11.60, 4.95, and 0.39 years, respectively. When tides were excluded, the WRTs decreased by >70% in the Bohai and Yellow seas and by ~10% in the East China Sea, indicating a significant acceleration in the shelf water export due to the absence of tides. The tidal effect has spatial variability associated with the water depth. Sensitivity experiments suggest that the tidal effect on the mean WRT was stronger than the effect of other dynamical factors (winds, rivers, and boundary currents). In the model with tides, tides weakened the wind‐driven coastal current by intensifying the bottom resistance and thus slowed water export in the inner and middle portions of the shelf, compared to the model without tides. Parameterization of the tidal bottom friction in the model without tides could significantly improve the WRT result. This study highlights the crucial role of tides on the long‐term transport of shelf seas and the significance of parameterizing the effect of tidal friction in climate models.