All That Cheap Chinese Stuff Is Now Europe's Problem (msn.com)
- Reference: 0180424627
- News link: https://slashdot.org/story/25/12/19/1925205/all-that-cheap-chinese-stuff-is-now-europes-problem
- Source link: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/all-that-cheap-chinese-stuff-is-now-europe-s-problem/ar-AA1SyPjL
The shift has been swift: exports of low-value Chinese packages to the U.S. have dropped more than 40% since May, according to Chinese customs data, and the EU has this year overtaken the U.S. as the largest market for China's roughly $100 billion cheap package trade.
Shipments to Hungary and Denmark have quadrupled, and those to Germany, France, and the UK have risen 50% or more. Temu has recorded seven straight months of double-digit U.S. sales declines, per Consumer Edge data tracking credit and debit card transactions. Its European sales, on the other hand: up 56% in the EU and 46% in the UK since May compared to a year ago. The EU agreed last week to impose a $3.5 fee on imported small packages starting in July and to close the de minimis exemption entirely by 2028. The UK plans to follow in 2029.
[1] https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/all-that-cheap-chinese-stuff-is-now-europe-s-problem/ar-AA1SyPjL
Was there a shortage? (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't understand how decreasing import to the USA has increased buying in Europe. Was there a shortage and more was going to the US? Did they reduce prices in Europe? The article says "redirected a tsunami of cheap stuff into Europe", so I don't quite understand how the tariff in the US has increased buying in Europe.
Re: Was there a shortage? (Score:3)
I think you could sell more volume at a higher margin to the USA. This all the surplus inventory and capacity after USA closed the doors, Chinese manufacturers just shifted to the next list of countries with exemptions. I'm sure they also cut prices to increase volume and reduce inventory and avoid reducing that excess manufacturing.
Re: (Score:2)
Indeed there is no reason for a connection. What I think is happening is Shein and JD.com, maybe others, decided to open retail shops in Europe, so their revenue from Europe is now soaring.
Re: Was there a shortage? (Score:2)
> I don't understand how decreasing import to the USA has increased buying in Europe.
Because you have a working brain.
Re: (Score:1)
That doesn't work as there are well established rules of origin. The sales growth here would've happened regardless of Trump's policy. It will stop soon anyway as our government (UK) has announced they will also abolish the de minimis exception and I believe the EU are doing the same. It's throwing the baby out with the bath water IMO as there are good reasons for the exception, I don't know why they can't devise a more targeted solution.
Re: (Score:2)
The story is likely AI slop.
Re: (Score:2)
> I don't understand how decreasing import to the USA has increased buying in Europe. Was there a shortage and more was going to the US? Did they reduce prices in Europe? The article says "redirected a tsunami of cheap stuff into Europe", so I don't quite understand how the tariff in the US has increased buying in Europe.
Exactly. TFS and TFA state the following:
> ... closure of the de minimis customs loophole in May has redirected a flood [TFA says, " tsunami "] of cheap goods toward Europe ...
> [TFS] The shift has been swift: exports of low-value Chinese packages to the U.S. have dropped more than 40% since May ...
Which is misleading as products aren't being pushed on Europe, or previously the U.S., people are buying/importing the stuff.
Re: (Score:2)
It didn't "redirect" it.. it was always there.. but the "noise floor" has shifted.. Europe, UK, and US had these rules in place.. so by closing the door on 1 place, the noise looks more obvious on the other two.. (no one is buying "extra" stuff).
Re: (Score:2)
> I don't understand how decreasing import to the USA has increased buying in Europe. Was there a shortage and more was going to the US? Did they reduce prices in Europe? The article says "redirected a tsunami of cheap stuff into Europe", so I don't quite understand how the tariff in the US has increased buying in Europe.
It's not a matter of markets but unilateral moves by the Chinese. The reason is that China's economy is heavily dependent on exports, so they are motivated to find replacement buyers. The Chinese should and actually want to increase domestic consumption, but that's easier said than done. So, the immediate solution is to dump Chinese goods on the rest of the world.
Chinese companies are motivated by a desire for increased corporate performance but also by government pressure. The Chinese government is pus
Does anyone actually feel it? (Score:1)
I don't personally nor do I know anyone who says they miss TEMU or missing the extra few pages of junk to scroll thru first on Amazon one little bit.
I imagine the people who do, still having their needs for the instant gratification of opening a package, any package are met with trash from Dollar General
Re: (Score:2)
I'm pretty sure someone was expecting that we were addicted to that $100B trade, and by throwing a 15-999% tariff on it, 15B-1.5T of fresh taxes were going to be generated. With a 40% drop in purchasing, that's going to translate to a lot lower tax intake than expected. The price for that will probably be more inflation, but the powers that be have shown very little concern over using other, more nuclear options (possibly even literal nuclear options), for handling budget shortfalls.
Exciting times!
Re: (Score:2)
Electronics is my hobby and quite often I would buy things like bnc cables or lighted pushbutton switches direct from Aliexpress. The quality on that stuff is honestly fine. However things like opamps or power transistors are a different story. Nearly 100% of it is relabeled fake parts.
Re: (Score:2)
And there is a lot of stuff available from Aliexpress that western companies don't want to sell B2C, because they consider it to cumbersome to deal with customers. About a dozen times I tried to buy different items domestic only to find out that companies would only offer large batches to commercial B2B customers, and had to turn to Aliexpress to get just a few items as a private customer for a reasonable price.
Problem? (Score:3)
The only logic from this simple post is - cheap is bad. I thought somehow paying more for same was stupid, has this changed?
Re: (Score:2)
The fact there can be a 40% decline in an entire category and you don't see it on the streets, in the form of empty shelves, shuttered websites etc suggests to me that a lot of economists when the considered tariff impacts wild underestimated the gamification of shopping.
There are ton of people out there that just scroll and a click buy on things they don't need and if they thought about it for more than moment would realize they don't actually really want - they're just bored...They solve that by frequentl
Re: (Score:1)
tariffs are more limited hands off form of taxation than the alternatives.
if you don't want to pay them; buy something domestic or just hold onto your money. Compare that income or property taxes...
The limited hands off government I think we ought to have would eliminate income and property taxes and implement a national sales tax. The America first government I think we ought to have would enact strong tariffs to ensure domestic industry is protected and domestic alternative goods and products are preferre
Re: (Score:3)
> tariffs are more limited hands off form of taxation than the alternatives.
> if you don't want to pay them; buy something domestic or just hold onto your money.
The issue is that even "domestic" goods typically have parts sourced through imports, so you will pay a hidden "tariff tax" on most products anyway.
> Compare that income or property taxes...
They main difference is transparency: with those taxes is far more easy to figure out exactly how much money goes into them out of your pockets. With tariffs you don't really know actually. There is a reason Trump threatened retaliation against Amazon when it was even only suggested they might make the tariff portion of the consumer price transparent to the cons
Re: (Score:3)
I'm not sure what you're trying to say. Of course when prices go up people buy less. They can't afford to buy as much as before.
The rest of your post is just a spin. You're trying to claim that "they don't need it". Yes, they can make do with 2 pencils instead of 35, but that's just saying you're in a recession, and people can't afford to live at the same level as before.
Not for long (Score:4, Informative)
The EU (and the UK after them) is going to adjust their de minis approach as well [1]https://www.supplychainbrain.c... [supplychainbrain.com]
[1] https://www.supplychainbrain.com/articles/43004-eu-to-end-de-minimis-with-new-customs-fee-in-2026
Trump fail (Score:2)
We still payed taxes on these items, now no more taxes and nobody wants the import fees.
De minimis isn't just about cheap Chinese Junk (Score:5, Interesting)
I think there was a much better way to address the cheap junk from the likes of Temu and Ali express. Closing the De minimis exemption means you can't even send Christmas gifts to family members abroad.
One of my hobbies is working on/restoring vintage European cars. Most of the parts are ONLY available abroad. Even the few domestic suppliers have pretty much emptied their warehouses. With de minimis gone, you can easily pay $50 for tiny odds and ends like a bolt that cost $5. Before, the Bolt would be $5 and they'd charge you $5 to ship it and you'd get it for $10. Now, most shippers charge a minimum fee of $20 for customs processing and a minimum of $20 tariff regardless of value (because they won't allow processing of a $1 tariff). And it's not just the cost. Shipments that would arrive in a few days (because they didn't get a full customs inspection) can now take weeks to arrive. Other's I've talked to have had shipments flagged and returned for no apparent reason. We are collateral damage in the fight against cheap Chinese junk. I've never even ordered from Temu.
Business opportunity (Score:2)
Trusted third party that collects and batches multiple orders into lumps big enough to keep the tariff overhead reasonable.
Of course it would have to charge its own overhead for receiving and dispatching orders... never mind.
Europe was being flooded before Trump (Score:1)
The Chinese were flooding Europe with cheap stuff long before the Trump tariffs.
Doesn't Add Up (Score:2)
Why would European sales jump so much because the U.S. has blocked imports?
It is perfectly understandable that Chinese exports to the U.S. would drop, precipitously. But, why would Chinese exports to Europe increase because of it? What was holding back the European market up to this point?
It doesn't make sense. Are we supposed to believe that the U.S. demand had been exceeding the Chinese supply of Temu shit and that European buyers finally have a chance to buy what was previously an exhausted supply? I'm n
Re: (Score:3)
No, I think it's RELATIVE, and the article describes it badly. EU does not have to grow, it just has to not decline like the US market, and then it is relatively bigger. "Overtaken" implies action, but it could actually be inaction by the EU. Read it again while thinking of it like that:
> exports of low-value Chinese packages to the U.S. have dropped more than 40% since May, according to Chinese customs data, and the EU has this year overtaken the U.S. as the largest market for China's roughly $100 billion
haha no (Score:2)
"President Trump's closure of the de minimis customs loophole in May"
NEVER HAPPENED.
I buy stuff from AliExpress all the time and I'm not seeing these big promised tariffs on my small orders.
doubleplusungood (Score:1)
This world is upside down, where getting plentyful cheap stuff is considered to be a problem, where tariffs will make something great again. It is like living among amoeba brained monkeys.
the EU has no exemption (Score:1)
We used to, and it was like €20 until 2021, but now it's €0.
Items under €150 are supposed to have their local VAT assessed, collected, and remitted by the seller (globally).
Items over €150 are assessed for VAT at entry (for an additional fee)
Items under €150 that are not handled by the seller are assessed at entry (for an additional fee)
Gifts have an exemption, but postage is counted toward the total, and the insane cost of shipping ANYTHING these days means you end up paying the VA
Good (Score:5)
I have to say as a diehard Trump-hater, I am very on board with policies that clamp down on this tidal wave of cheap junk even if "reduce the amount of cheap junk America buys and immediately throws away" is not actually the policy goal.
Re: No not good he already trashed the US economy (Score:2)
> It's very very very unfair for China and now everybody rightfully hates America like everybody should be.
It sounds like the EU and the UK have the same idea, so no, Russia does not count as everybody. Besides, rsilverjinping the poo, if it was unfair to your country, then why do you already have much more strict policies in your own country? You don't even follow your own obligations as a member of the WTO.
Re: (Score:3)
I'm surprised Europe has t figured out a way to regulate the flood of cheap Chinese crap out of existence. While they have tariffs of their own in some cases they usually just find other ways to enact protectionism to keep foreign competitors out of local industries.
The unfortunate truth is that most people value cheap crap in the now more than more expensive quality products that will last much longer. Unless and until you or anyone else can change human nature the cheap crap will flow, whether from Chi
Re: (Score:2)
It's not human nature. People simply can't afford quality products. The economy everywhere sucks. Too many fucking billionaires and snake oil tech companies hoarding the wealth and ruining the economy. Too many politicians getting their coffers filled behind the scenes. The world needs a reset starting with wiping out this sociopath behavior by those committing it.
Re: (Score:2)
> I'm surprised Europe has t figured out a way to regulate the flood of cheap Chinese crap out of existence. While they have tariffs of their own in some cases they usually just find other ways to enact protectionism to keep foreign competitors out of local industries.
We have at least to some degree, the $175 de minimis is only for customs fees which are only like 5% anyway. VAT is now applied to all packages so the likes of aliexpress and temu include taxes in the price and charge it at checkout, removing some of the advantage.
Obviously that wasn't quite enough becase they're now introducing this $3.5 fee which I haven't even heard of before.
Re: (Score:1)
> I am very on board with policies that clamp down on this tidal wave of cheap junk
Because it is cheap does not mean it must also be bad (although I will agree there was a lot of cheap junk being sold). There are some items for which the only manufacturer ended up being offshore, so now that item costs more due to the taxes.
Re:Good (Score:5, Interesting)
I work for a small manufacturing company. We make some specialized data acquisition systems and accessories. Our prices fluctuate weekly now because you never what the tariff will be on a particular item. One of our products runs on off the shelf lithium battery packs, similar to the old removable laptop style. The chargers for those packs now have an extra $100 tariff added that we must pass along to the customer. I'm not sure how much more greatness we can take.
Re: (Score:3)
Ultimately its going to kill the SMB and midtier markets.. because most SMB's these days do drop shipments (they do order processing for larger companies, who then drop ship an item directly so they don't have to take on the cost of inventory locally).. large enterprises (looking at you Amazon) can affort to order in bulk (even with tariffs).. but for the SMB space.. it essentially eliminates them.. they they won't be price competative with the larger companies that use their size to leverage volume discoun
Re: (Score:2)
So the cheap junk will come from a different place. What was the point?
Re: (Score:2)
Some of the most expensive stuff is made of cheap junk. This is hurting American small business, but you be happy.
Re: (Score:2)
But see that's the thing.. its not "cheap junk".. (a popular misconception).. its simply direct to consumer.
Look.. you buy a 100 pot from say Bed Bath and Beyond (yes I know they are dead... don't worry about it)..
But the actual cost to manufacture said pot is closer to 10 dollars.. then the distributer adds on their cut, then the freight forwarder adds their cut, then the reseller adds on their cut (plus logistics and inventory costs).. so at each step of the way, everyone is adding on 10-20% on top of THE