Primary Taiwanese news agency Central News Agency (CNA) recently reported that, starting May 2, the United States imposes a tariff of 120 percent of the declared value or US$100 per piece on small packages from China under US$800. Chinese e-commerce giants SHEIN and Temu originally benefited from the U.S. tariff exemption for small parcels. Now the prices on these two sites have increased by 40 percent to 100 percent.
Currently on the Temu website, the products shipped directly from China have basically disappeared. Temu initially listed tariff duties separately at checkout, showing that the cost of imports often exceeded the price of the goods themselves. Now Temu seems to have switched to only displaying products markers of “Local” and “No import charges.” SHEIN still displays goods shipped from China, however, the website does not list the tariffs separately.
Both SHEIN and Temu have slashed advertising in the United States. Earlier, one out of every five Google Ads was an ad from these two companies. Now the ads of these two companies have disappeared from Google Ads.
Source: CNA, May 2, 2025
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202505020304.aspx