This photo illustration reveals the Temu application in the Application Store reflected in films of Shein individuals, in Washington, DC, on February 23, 2023.
Stefani Reynolds | AFP | Getty Photos
A bipartisan team of U.S. lawmakers planned to introduce a bill on Wednesday to remove a tariff exemption widely utilized by e-commerce sellers to ship orders from China to U.S. buyers, a person of the sponsors claimed.
The exception, known as the de minimis rule, exempts imports valued at $800 or less from tariffs if the merchandise are transported to unique consumers. The bill would ban this sort of shipments from China straight away on enactment, sponsor Republican Senator Bill Cassidy mentioned.
E-commerce sellers this sort of as China-started, Singapore-dependent Shein and Temu, a rival owned by PDD Holdings that operates the Chinese ecommerce web-site Pinduoduo, are major beneficiaries of the exemption. A federal brief in April stated the organizations “exploit” de minimis to keep away from duties and import unlawful merchandise this sort of as these manufactured in China’s Xingiang area with forced Uyghur labor.
A Shein spokesperson mentioned Tuesday the organization has no brands in Xinjiang. Temu did not immediately reply to a request for remark.
De minimis shipments have drawn consideration at least due to the fact 2019, when the U.S. Buyer Merchandise Basic safety Commission noted it struggled to capture unsafe imports simply because of the large quantity of small-value packages. This sort of shipments rose to 685.5 million in 2022 as opposed with 410.5 million in 2018, U.S. customs details confirmed.
The bill’s other sponsors are Republican Senator J.D. Vance and Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin. It was unclear how considerably traction the proposal would obtain. A independent but equivalent invoice by Democratic Agent Earl Blumenauer failed to go Congress past yr.
Underneath the invoice, international locations other than China and Russia could maintain the exemption by adopting the $800 threshold for their very own tariff-free of charge imports. The monthly bill would only enable personal shippers like FedEx, UPS and DHL to transport de minimis offers and exclude postal providers.
