Trump’s Tariffs Hit Chinese E-Commerce: Temu Traffic Drops

The decline in US internet traffic to Temu, a Chinese e-commerce platform, has become evident following the termination of a loophole by the Trump administration. This move effectively increased import fees for low-cost products from China.

According to Similarweb, a traffic-monitoring company, US web visits to Temu’s site dropped significantly in April, plummeting from approximately 13 million to 3 million. Similarly, the daily active count for their mobile app in the US decreased from over 15 million to under 10 million during the period of April to June.

This decline occurred after the Trump administration ended the “de minimis” exemption for Chinese imports, which previously allowed retailers like Temu, Shein, and AliExpress to ship packages valued under $800 without incurring any import fees. The US now requires such low-cost imports from China to pay a 54% tariff.

Interestingly, Temu experienced a surge in web traffic – nearly 15 million visits per day – both before and after Trump’s initial efforts in February to eliminate the de minimis tax exemption for imports from China and Hong Kong. However, he later withdrew this decision before officially implementing it in May. More recently, the White House announced an end to this loophole for all countries, effective August 29.

Despite the recent decline, consumer interest in Temu appears to have rebounded slightly in recent weeks, according to Similarweb. However, potential further declines may occur as tariff rules change and prices increase.

In May, Temu announced plans to invest billions to assist merchants in China with covering the costs of these new tariffs.