[Feng Yaren, special correspondent of the Global Times in the United States, Zhang Wang, reporter of the Global Times] Recently, some politicians in the United States have frequently exerted pressure on small goods imported from China. According to Agence France-Presse, Gallagher, chairman of the U.S.-China Select Committee on U.S.-China Strategic Competition in the House of Representatives, claimed that there has been an "alarming increase" in the number of small package imports that enjoy tariff exemptions, and he urged Congress to take urgent measures to stop Chinese companies from "stealing" U.S. business and jobs.
According to the report, under the so-called "small exemption" mechanism, goods worth less than $800 can enter the United States duty-free. Gallagher claimed in a statement on the 1st that there will be about 10A staggering 500 million shipments entered the U.S. duty-free using the "small claims waiver" mechanism, "a staggering 53% increase compared to 2022." Agence France-Presse reported that data released by the U.S.-China Special Committee on Strategic Competition in June last year showed that more than 30 percent of all "small exempt" packages shipped to the United States each day could come from Chinese e-commerce platforms Shein and Pinduoduo's overseas version of Temu, with a higher proportion of such shipments coming from China. Gallagher claimed that the "small exemptions" allow foreign companies to evade tariffs and scrutiny about "forced labor" and "while weakening American businesses that play by the rules," and urged Congress to take "urgent action" on the matter, "or the U.S. retail industry will be forced to move its operations and jobs to China."
As Agence France-Presse said, Gallagher's statement comes at a time when the United States has stepped up its "scrutiny" of Chinese cross-border e-commerce platforms. U.S. Senators Sherold Brown and Rick Scott sent a letter to Biden on February 23 calling on him to use executive power to repeal the "de minimis waiver," which they believe harms U.S. manufacturers, workers and communities and allows "illegal goods" to enter the U.S., according to Business Insider**. The report cited estimates from a shipping consulting firm that Temu and Shein ship more than 1 million packages a day to the United States. In January, the two companies said they were not relying on "small exemptions" for business growth and would support the reforms if they were fair.
Song Guoyou, deputy director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University, told the Global Times on the 3rd that individual politicians in the United States continue to clamor to suppress China's cross-border e-commerce platforms, not only for the e-commerce itself, but also in the context of containing China. If the United States amends the relevant rules or even cancels the "small exemption" mechanism in the future, then ordinary American consumers may face higher shopping costs, and the relevant transportation and logistics industry in the United States will also be affected.
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*: Global Times.