Chinese online retailers retreat as Trump ends de minimis exemption

Seeking Alpha News (Wed, 02-Apr 5:43 PM)

Shares of PDD Holdings (NASDAQ:PDD), the parent company of online marketplace Temu, JD.com (JD), and Alibaba (BABA) fell sharply in late trading after President Trump confirmed he was eliminating the de minimis treatment for low-value imports from China through an Executive Order.

According to the White House, U.S. Customs and Border Protection processes over 4 million de minimis shipments into the U.S. each day.

The de minimis exemption allows goods with a value of $800 or less to enter the U.S. duty-free. Temu, SHEIN, AliExpress and other Chinese retailers exploit this exemption to ship individual packages to customers out of the country without paying import tariffs and precludes these retailers from operating fulfillment centers in the U.S. similar to Amazon (AMZN) and Walmart (WMT).

The order will take effect on May 2 at 12:01am EDT.

The Executive Order states that imported goods sent through means other than the international postal network that are valued at or under $800 and that would otherwise qualify for the de minimis exemption will be subject to a duty rate of either 30% of their value or $25 per item. This will increase to $50 per item after June 1. This is in lieu of any other duties, including those imposed by prior orders.

The order is intended to not only address the proliferation of packages being sent to the U.S. without paying appropriate duties, but also deceptive shipping practices that have allowed the proliferation of synthetic opioids into the U.S.

PDD (NASDAQ:PDD), Alibaba (BABA), and JD.com (JD) shares were all down ~5%.