EU ‘War’ against the Cheap Packages of Chinese Commerce

More than 110,000 million packages of all sizes move every year by China. A figure that challenges the laws of logistics in the world’s largest e -commerce market. The dimension of this phenomenon, key in the digital revolution of the second world economy, is possible thanks to the greased efficiency mach Corner, however remote, of this vast country.

Electronic commerce in China, with a volume of annual transactions of More than 40 billion yuan (about six billion euros)it has become a fundamental pillar for economic growth. This digital ecosystem dominates technological giants as Taobaothe main online shopping platform of Alibaba, JD.com y Pindoduo.

The Chinese model, in which the variety of products at ultra competitive prices and the delivery speed prevails, has long been exported with other names outside its borders to revolutionize the supply chains of global electronic commerce. This is where they enter Shein y Ago. The first sells to more than 150 countries. The second exceeds half a hundred. Both platforms are Chinese, but in China nobody knows them.

The Shein and Temu market is mostly in the United States and Europe. Both companies, referents in the call “Ultra Fast Fashion”they have devastated their unbeatable prices thanks to an aggressive marketing combined with the use of algorithms that dive through social networks seeking microtendences, which allows brands to cut the production time and replace orders quickly. The traditional designers were replaced by engineers who also knew how to hook the young buyer of the West with a strategic one that works very well in China: combine the low prices with the impulse they give within the same known standings platforms that sell the products live live.

This week, Shein and Temu, along with the China also AliExpresshave entered by surprise in the new commercial war unleashed by the president Donald Trump After the US postal service announced that it would stop accepting China and Hong Kong packages, although late on Wednesday it would back down. Beyond the exchange of blows between the two titans of the geopolitical board, from the European Union they have also put under scrutiny to Chinese electronic commerce.

Brussels wants to control the 12 million daily packages that enter the EU, of which more than 90% are from Chinese companies. In 2024, imports of the so -called “low value products” have multiplied and The EU received 4.6 billion products -From 1.9 billion in 2023-, mostly from China. This, according to the European Commission, has risks to the environment and health, in addition to increasing competition to local manufacturers.

Until now, these packages only paid tariffs if they exceeded 150 euros. Brussels now intends to extend the rates to all. The purpose is to increase the controls and protect the European producer, which will make the shipments more expensive from outside the block.

Research to Shein

In addition, Brussels has announced that an investigation will open to Shein for “unfair and unfair practices”as he did last year in another investigation against Temu. A report published a few days ago by the European Consumers Organization, based on evidence in Denmark, Italy and the United Kingdom, concluded that “a high proportion” of products sold in TEMU did not comply with the regulation of the EU. For example, a laboratory inspection of toys for children sold in TEMU said that they released illegal amounts of boric acid that could be harmful to health.

Some observers have seen a wink to the Trump administration with this European movement to try to eliminate tax free entry from China’s small packages. In the EU they estimate that, with this protectionist measure, 1,000 million euros could be recovered in taxes from here to 2027.

As has happened in Europe, Chinese retailers used a legal lagoon -known as minimiswhich exempts from import taxes to shipments of less than $ 800- in the US market to save millions of dollars in import rates, sending small orders directly to the US consumer, without going through the department store filter.

From this commercial exemption, eliminated last weekend by Trump, the more than 1,000 million packages that were sent to the USA last year benefited, a considerable figure if compared to 140 million a decade ago. Almost half of all packages sent under the regime of minimis They come from China. According to a report by the Peterson Institute of International Economics, Shein and Temu are responsible for approximately 30% of the packages that are sent daily to the US.

It was clear that when the postal service announced the temporary suspension – which would later revoke – of the entry of packages from the Asian country, it was a measure connected with the new commercial commercial war. First Trump attacked with tariffs 10% to Chinese productsto which Beijing hired some American mineral imports with tariffs of up to 15%.

The American media have reported that after this forehead opened against the Chinese, TEMU packages, which is part of the Chinese Empire of Pinduoduo, the main competitor of Alibaba, has been giving priority in the showcase of its app to many more products than They leave directly from the US stores.