Get the latest tech news
The Unexpected Winners of Trump’s Trade War
Americans are now hit with tariffs when they shop from overseas sellers on eBay and Etsy. Shein and Temu had months to get ahead of the curve.
Denys, the shop owner, explains that my order got caught in a bureaucratic vortex after it was shipped in the days leading up to the end of de minimis, when customs agencies had not yet established clear new procedures for tracking small packages and applying tariffs to them. While I personally won’t have to pay more for this specific purchase, the experience underscores a deeper point about the whole de minimis mess: While headlines largely focus on how Trump’s new tariff regime is affecting giants like Amazon, Walmart, Shein, or Temu, those who are feeling the squeeze the most are small foreign business owners like Denys. I didn’t set out to shop from foreign brands, but modern global ecommerce platforms gave me access to a wider range of products, which were often sold at lower prices than the goods in nearby retail stores.
Or read this on Wired
