The EU is preparing for the impacts of the avalanches of Chinese products after the American rates

In addition to increasing the tariffs of US imports to European products, another aspect of the commercial war with President Donald Trump worries the European Commission: an avalanche of Chinese products is expected to further invade the European market. Chinese platforms like Shein and Temu have recorded spectacular sales in the last two years, a performance that tends to shoot through the tariff climbing between Washington and Beijing.

In addition to increasing the tariffs of US imports to European products, another aspect of the commercial war with President Donald Trump worries the European Commission: an avalanche of Chinese products is expected to further invade the European market. Chinese platforms such as Shein and Temu have recorded spectacular sales in the last two years, a performance that tends to shoot through the tariff climbing between Washington and Beijing.

The theme is on the cover of two of the main French newspapers this Friday (11). Le Figaro indicates that Brussels prepares a package to “amortize the shock” of commercial tensions between the United States and China. “This shock should freeze trade between the two and force Beijing to find a destination for $ 500 billion of goods that usually exports to the United States,” he says.

In Europe, the sectors most threatened by this redirect of Chinese exports are steel, chemicals, cars and fabrics. To protect these and other markets, the European Commission prepares a mechanism that allows the blocking of “monitoring imports” that receives very hard.

The Les Echos newspaper indicates that, in the area of ​​various products, the Shein platform tends to be the biggest goal. In the last 12 months, the French have spent 3 billion euros in purchases on the site – where it can “be the beginning of Chinese washing” in the fashion market, decorative objects or sports goods, among thousands of other marketed at low prices.

The EU is the second largest market in Shein

The European Union can become the main market of Shein after the United States have adopted rates that reach 145% compared to Chinese products. In the editorial, Le Figaro states that the alternative to European rates training could be “negotiating with the president XI that Jinping of an opening of his gigantic and suvexplated internal market”.

Today, in France, the main Asian platforms represent 22% of the orders delivered by the post office – five years ago, corresponded to less than 5%. The same exponential trend is observed in Europe, where, by 2024, about 4.6 billion of low value shipments (91% of which from China) entered the market, a number that has doubled compared to 2023 and tripled compared to 2022, warns the European Commission.

The focus of these platforms is the value of less than € 150, the customs tax exemption limit for packages that come from outside the European Union. This exemption was adopted in 2010, when a European standard promoted the “customs fluidity” and introduced the notion of “insignificant value”, that is € 150.

Trump has already visited low value packages

However, highlighting the import risks of “dangerous products” and a significant environmental imprint in such volumes, the European Commission requested in February that this advantage was removed. The President of the United States did not wait and signed a decree Tuesday (8) to increase customs on small packages from China from 30% to 90%.

The exemption of customs rates is an “unjustified” and “anachronistic” advantage that creates a “totally unjust competition”, reports Marc Lolivier, general delegate of the France of Electric Commerce Federation (Favad). “We are surprised by the lack of response from the French and European authorities. We have the impression that everyone hides after the other. Result: nothing happens,” he told AFP Pierre Bosche, president of the Confederation of French merchants.

“If Trump can make decisions in three days, we imagine that the European Commission can do it in less than three years,” says Pierre-François Le Louët, a blanket of the French Fashion and Clothing Industries Union.

Europe proposes a revision of the customs code, but “this will take ten years”, warns Yves Audo, president of the French commercial council.

With information from AFP

Source: Terra

Rose

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