Rapid growth of Temu and Shein threatens US businesses and consumers, Biden says.

The Biden administration has proposed rules that could make it more costly for Chinese e-commerce platforms like Shein and Temu to ship goods into the US.

In his announcement proposing to crack down on “unsafe, unfairly traded products,” President Joe Biden accused China-founded e-commerce platforms selling cheap goods of abusing the “de minimis exemption” that makes shipments valued under $800 duty-free.

Platforms taking advantage of the exemption can share less information on packages and dodge taxes. Biden warned that “over the last 10 years, the number of shipments entering the United States claiming the de minimis exemption has increased significantly, from approximately 140 million a year to over 1 billion a year.” And the “majority of shipments entering the United States claiming the de minimis exemption originate from several China-founded e-commerce platforms,” Biden said.

  • conciselyverbose
    111·
    3 months ago

    I think the assertion is that it’s intended for actual low volume low value trade, and that a retailer operating in the US but packaging the shipments in China (to bypass the normal import laws that apply to companies operating traditionally and importing in bulk, then packaging here) is not how the exception is intended to be used.