- In anticipation of tariffs, I made a hasty last-minute panic buy at Temu.
- Donald Trump has said he'll close the loophole that lets Temu and Shein ship directly to customers without duties.
- Will American consumers like me be able to break their addiction to cheap foreign goods? Who knows!
Last night, as "Liberation Day" was taking effect and the tariffs on imports were being revealed, I did what any American might do in a crisis: I panic-shopped.
I hit up what I thought might be most likely to go extinct: the sweet, sweet low prices on fast fashion and junky plastic that comes straight from China. So, as I read over tweets that were speculating that the tariff rates were determined by ChatGPT, I went onto Temu and frantically placed an order. One last hurrah.
As I placed an order for several bubble wands and machines (I have a child's birthday coming up, so this was a somewhat intentional shop, admittedly), I couldn't help but wonder: Wow, is this it?
Will this be the end of a $2.74 mousepad that leaks goo all over me (which happened with an actual mousepad I bought from Temu)?
Is this the end of kids making fun of their parents for becoming "Temu victims?"
Is this the end of Temu being used as a new slang insult?
Right now, I'm not sure.
I checked the prices of the items I bought late Wednesday again on Thursday morning, post-tariff announcement. (It's not clear when exactly each tariff will start to take effect.) So far, no change in prices. The Temu website had no pop-ups or banners or warnings that prices might change due to the new tariffs.
Temu is in a bit of a unique position compared to other consumer goods you might buy that were made in China. Temu and fast-fashion retailer Shein's whole business is shipping your order directly from China, using the de minimus exemption — an old law that allows items under $800 to be shipped to the US duty-free.
Basically, if Walmart imports T-shirts made in China, it has to pay tariffs, which will likely be passed onto me in the price tag when I buy one at the store. But if I order a single T-shirt from Shein, it ships directly to me with no duty taxes at all — which is one of the ways Temu and Shein were able to keep prices so low.
So, you might think that Temu would be uniquely spared from the tariffs. But Trump just signed an executive order that would close that de miminis loophole, and add on either a 30% duty or a flat $25 fee (which would go up to $50 by June 1).
The White House's official announcement of the order, which is set to go into effect May 2, says that this is to stop the flow of illegal synthetic opioids like fentanyl that are shipping into the US from China through the mail. I don't know all that much about the illegal drug trade, but I always assumed the margins are fairly healthy; it may be an industry able to absorb a tariff.
Hopefully, my Temu order will arrive before May, and I'll have been able to sneak under the wire with my last reckless sprint of consumerist impulse. Am I proud of this? Absolutely not. Trust me, I feel as bad as I should.
(The announcement from the White House was rough for Temu's parent company, PPD Holdings, and others, like Alibaba, whose stocks plummeted on Thursday.
I have no idea what will happen with Temu and Shein or other retailers that have transformed their industries in the last few years by offering unbeatable prices. Will consumers finally kick their habit of hyperconsumption? Will it put these companies out of business if shoppers have to pay big duty fees? No clue!
Right now, we're in a weird moment where it's not totally clear what's going to happen (although it seems … probably "bad.") I only tell you how I feel:
