Online retailer Temu cuts off China-based sellers as tariff exemption ends

Temu, a leading online retailer, has made the significant decision to remove China-based sellers from its U.S. marketplace given the United States' removal of tariff exemptions for low-value packages shipped from China.

The lifting on Friday of the "de-minimis" rule has hit hard on Chinese e-commerce giants Temu and Shein, which shipped billions of dollars' worth of goods to American consumers last year.

Platforms like Temu and Shein built their businesses bringing bargains like one-dollar hats or three-dollar tools to U.S. shoppers. Last year alone, they reportedly shipped some 400 million packages to the U.S. But for many, that flow has halted since Washington slapped hefty tariff hikes on Chinese goods and ended the rule that exempted shipments under 800 dollars from duties.

At Yiwu International Trade Market, the world's largest wholesale market for small commodities, where many vendors are based offline, people say the changes have been drastic.

Jiang Shanhuo, manager of Yiwu Shuoka Accessories, said his necklace sets once sold for nine dollars on Shein now costs 19 dollars under the new tariff rules. "Sales to the U.S. from Shein has basically dropped to zero at this point. Most of our sales are in Europe and the Middle East now," Jiang said.

American shoppers have been voicing frustration over the rising prices, as Temu initially displayed import charges. But now, Temu has quietly removed these products shipped directly from China and its U.S. website now only sells items shipped from local warehouses.

"Around April 27, Temu took down all the fully-managed listings for the U.S. market. They simply couldn't handle such a large volume of low-value packages for customs clearance," Lin Wanyi, a cross-border seller and blogger, spoke of the platform's recent changes.

Many Chinese sellers use Temu's "fully-managed" model, where they only need to deliver goods to a local warehouse in China while Temu handles the rest. Switching to other models isn't appealing for them.

"If we switch to semi-managed, we have to ship products to overseas warehouses first. That means higher costs and risks that smaller vendors just can't afford. So now, for (American shoppers), the range of products they can choose from has become very limited," said Lin.

Online retailer Temu cuts off China-based sellers as tariff exemption ends

Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Thursday presided over a State Council executive meeting that studied work on building a unified national market and reviewed and approved a plan for the development of a modern emergency response system during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030).

Noting that building a unified national market is essential to advancing high-quality development, the meeting called for deepening institutional frameworks in areas such as property rights protection, market access, fair competition, social credit and market exit mechanisms.

The meeting also urged efforts to advance high-standard connectivity of market infrastructure to facilitate smooth economic circulation and effectively reduce logistics costs across society.

Emergency management is critical to protecting people's lives and property, the meeting said. It called for accelerating the development of a modern emergency response system, deepening reform and innovation in emergency management, and improving coordinated response mechanisms.

Efforts should be made to strengthen risk prevention at the source, enhance monitoring, forecasting and early warning, and accelerate a shift in governance toward proactive prevention, according to the meeting.

A draft revision of the Law on the People's Bank of China was also discussed and approved in principle at the meeting, which decided to submit the draft to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for deliberation.

Chinese premier chairs State Council executive meeting