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I placed an order at Temu just before “Liberation Day” tariffs were announced — as a last hurrah.
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Since then, there’s been a lot of on-again, off-again tariff news.
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Will I get walloped with a $75 duty fee on my $8 order? Pray for me!
The past few days with tariffs have been an emotional roller coaster. Not because I checked my 401(k), but because I placed an order from Temu last week — and its fate seems to be hanging in the balance.
In anticipation of “Liberation Day,” when tariffs would go into effect, I placed one last Temu order. I figured it might be my final chance to get ridiculously low-priced plastic junk shipped straight from China through the mail (plus, I have a kid’s birthday coming up, and I was in the market for some new bubble machine toys).
I snuck in my order just under the wire — and the next day, tariffs shocked the stock market. (Since then, there have been a few other shocks, like on Wednesday when Donald Trump delayed most tariffs for 90 days, except on China.)
Temu’s business isn’t like say, Apple’s, where tariffs could affect the importing to the US of an internationally-made iPhone. Temu ships orders to customers directly from China, using the “de minimis” exception — a longtime loophole that had allowed packages with a value under $800 to be mailed to the US without being subject to duties.
Trump signed an executive order last week ending the de minimis exception. That means packages coming into the US are expected to be subject to a duty, even if their value is under $800.
His initial order meant that these Temu-type packages (ones that would have previously been de minimis) would now be subject to a $25 fee per item, or a fee of 30% of their value. (It’s unclear if you’d have to pay the higher or lower of those two options.)
But this week, Trump tripled down — now it’s $75 per item or 90% of an order’s value.
Yikes. That makes my $8 bubble camera turn into a pretty bad deal.
Thankfully, this all is expected to go into effect starting on May 2nd, and my package is expected to arrive before then. I know, I know, you’re practically weeping with relief for me.
According to Temu’s website, my order has cleared customs and is on its way — with an estimated delivery window of April 10-17.
What does this all mean for Temu’s business — and the business of Shein, a Chinese company that also has used the de minimis exception? Well, it’s not looking great, I’ll say that.
