DHgate Explained: App Surges in Popularity, but Might Not Be Helpful Against Tariffs

President Donald Trump signed an executive order cutting the "de minimis" tariff rate on purchases from China this week, a move many consumers might feel the impact of when using shopping apps like Temu or Shein, or even the new kid on the Chinese e-commerce block: DHgate. On April 16, the Chinese shopping service DHgate boasted the second-most downloaded free app on Apple's App Store, behind only OpenAI's ChatGPT. According to a report from Yahoo Finance, the previous week, it was 352nd on the same list, indicating a stratospheric rise in popularity largely attributed to popular TikTok creators advocating for the e-commerce platform as a way to buy directly from China. As of April 25, it was still the 12th most popular shopping app on the App Store. So what is DHgate precisely? It's an online shopping platform based in China that has been around since 2004. Similar in function and appearance to other popular sites like Shein and Temu, DHgate allows consumers to make purchases direct ... Read full article.