Both Shein and Temu last month warned customers that prices would rise, while Temu says it is rapidly expanding its network of US-based sellers and warehouses to protect its low prices.
Other business groups say many smaller, less high-profile American brands that manufacture abroad for US customers are struggling – and may not survive.
“If the tariffs weren’t in place, it would be like taking a little bit of bitter medicine,” says Alex Beller, board member of the Ecommerce Innovation Alliance, a business lobby group and a co-founder of Postscript, which works with thousands of smaller businesses on text messaging marketing.
“But paired with the other tariffs, especially for brands that manufacture in China, it just becomes an insurmountable shift.”
In a letter to the government last month, men’s clothing company Indochino, known for its custom suits made-to-order in China, warned that ending de minimis posed a “significant threat to the viability” of its business and other mid-size American firms like it.
Steven Borelli is the chief executive of the athleisure clothing firm CUTS, which manufactures outside the US, shipping products to a warehouse in Mexico, from where packages are mailed to customers in the US.
His firm has been pushing to reduce its reliance on China, halting orders in the country months ago. Still, he says he is now considering price increases and job cuts.
He says his business has room to manoeuvre, since it caters to higher income customers, but he expects “thousands” of other brands to die without changes to the situation.
“We want more time,” he says. “The speed at which everything is happening is too fast for businesses to adjust.”
