Temu Drops Import Changes for Now, but Future for Fast Fashion Giant Remains Murky

Shopping on Temu for items at bargain prices has been a joy for many customers since the e-commerce giant launched in the US in 2022, but the trade policies recently instituted by President Donald Trump have put that relationship at major risk. At the end of April, Temu raised prices and added "import charges" that were sometimes more than the cost of the products themselves. Customers balked, traffic to Temu plummeted, and sales dropped considerably. The import charges and price increases followed the Trump administration's revocation of the "de minimis" exemption, which previously allowed goods under $800 to enter the US from mainland China and Hong Kong duty-free. Now, Temu is taking a different tack. The company has stopped shipping products from China to US customers. Instead, all sales to buyers in the US are now managed by "locally based sellers," with orders fulfilled domestically to keep prices low. "Temu's pricing for US consumers remains unchanged as the platform transiti ... Read full article.