The Biden administration is addressing the “de minimis” exemption that it says some Chinese e-commerce companies “abuse” to ship products under $800 to US customers without tariffs.
New rules proposed on Friday subject certain shipments from China to closer inspection and tariffs — a move that will affect products sold by ultralow-cost retailers like Shein and Temu.
With the rise of Chinese e-commerce sites like Shein and Temu, the US has seen a surge in shipments claiming the duty-free exemption. These shipments have increased from 140 million per year to more than 1 billion over 10 years, with the “majority” of products using the exemption coming from China. Shein and Temu claim the exemption because they send individual products…