Europe, China's New Target Market, May Need a Temu Tax
Europe needs to be alert to the risks of being a dumping ground for Chinese e-commerce platforms.
As the US erects trade barriers, Europe must be alert to the risk of becoming a dumping ground for Chinese retailers.
Photographer: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North AmericaBelgium’s Liege Airport probably doesn’t come to mind when picturing the frontlines of the US-China trade war. Yet two Boeing 747s last December gave customs officials there a hint of how the conflict may affect Europe: Both planes were packed nose-to-tail with thousands of parcels containing counterfeit goods. “We are drowning,” a customs boss told Belgian newspaper L’Echo.
Watery metaphors come in handy for describing the tsunami of small packages — overwhelmingly from China — flooding the European Union. The equivalent of around 145 parcels per second poured into the Old Continent last year, according to data compiled by the European Commission, evidence of the success of Chinese e-commerce platforms such as Shein and PDD Holding Inc.’s Temu in hooking consumers with rock-bottom prices. With the US now raising the drawbridge against cheap Chinese goods, Europe will be an even more vital market for these platforms. In France, where I live, it’s common to see Temu ads offering a free Android tablet to anyone downloading its app. Meanwhile, in the US, Temu is cutting ad spending while hiking prices.