Temu, the Chinese e-commerce platform, has stopped shipping products from China into the United States, a spokesperson for the company said on Friday. Instead, all of its U.S. orders will be shipped from local warehouses in America.
The change comes after the Trump administration closed a loophole that allowed products made in China and worth no more than $800 to enter the United States without import fees. The exemption, which President Trump has called a “big scam” that hurt American small businesses, ended Friday.
Temu said last month that it would adjust its prices after Mr. Trump announced his intention to close the loophole, known as the de minimis exemption. Last week, the company started tacking on import charges for U.S. customers who wanted to buy items from China. In some cases, that more than doubled the price of their purchases.
In the past few days, some shoppers noticed that many products from China were removed from Temu’s site, leaving only items that were shipped from local warehouses.
The company said on Friday that pricing for U.S. consumers “remains unchanged as the platform transitions to a local fulfillment model.”
“Temu has been actively recruiting U.S. sellers to join the platform,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “The move is designed to help local merchants reach more customers and grow their businesses.”
More companies have used the loophole in recent years to ship inexpensive products directly to U.S. customers without having to pay import fees. Some say ending the loophole will hurt U.S. consumers by raising prices as well as companies that had built their businesses around the exemption.
Others, including trade groups representing American textile makers, opposed the loophole. Kim Glas, the president of the National Council of Textile Organizations, said the exemption had allowed “unsafe and illegal Chinese goods” to flood the U.S. market duty-free for years.
“Today’s action by the administration is an important step forward to help rebalance the playing field for American manufacturers,” Ms. Glas said in a statement.
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