L’European Union intends to impose New customs duties on products imported from Chinese e-commerceAmong these are some very well-known names in the sector, including SHEIN, Fear And AliExpress. Currently, many low-cost items imported from these sites are not subject to customs duties if their value is less than 150 euros (in the United States this threshold is set at well 800 dollars), thanks to an exemption called “duty free”. However, the European Commission is considering eliminating this exemption to counter the influx of cheap products that often do not comply with European safety standards and which represent a unfair competition for local producers.
The reasons for the new tariffs and the objectives of the new EU measures
The objectives that the European Union is aiming for with the new duties there are essentially two: that of guaranteeing greater fairness in the European market and, secondly, protect consumers from defective or even harmful products.
The direction in which the EU is headed is very clear. Just think that in June, the European Commission officially asked Temu and SHEIN to provide information on their compliance with the DSA (Digital Services Act). In practice, according to the EU, the platforms in question must ensure that European users are not subject to bad practices such as the “dark pattern” (this is the term used to describe the phenomenon whereby personal data and payment information are requested without the security criteria established by the EU). Furthermore, it must be easy for users to report the presence of illegal products on platforms in real time. Platforms must also allow European users to easily report any illegal products.
Even more importantly, the EU intends to introduce duties also for products that are below the threshold of 150 euros, thus shattering the so-called “duty free” (which some experts say could happen by the next holiday season.) If that happens, it will mean that many of us will have to rethink our shopping habits and forget about buying clothes and other trinkets at ridiculous prices.
The skyrocketing shipments of Chinese products to the EU and the US
The slowdown in naval traffic caused by the attacks by the Houthi population has caused a considerable delay in the shipping times of goods travelling by sea. This is because container ships have been forced to change their routes, passing through the Cape of Good Hope (in the deep south of the African continent) instead of the Suez Canal. The geopolitical situation in Yemen combined with the increase in demand for Chinese products by European and American users has led to an increase in air shipping costs which, according to what was reported by The Wall Street Journal, between June 2023 and June 2024 they rose from 5 to 18 dollars/kg for shipments from Southeast China to EU and USA.
The increase in shipments of Chinese products to European and US territory, according to Cargo Facts Consultingis nothing short of dizzying. Just think, for example, of the Temu platform which, according to estimates, ships every day 4000 tons of productsSHEIN is no exception, shipping a good amount of items (mostly clothes and accessories) 5000 tons per dayThe reason for such success is to be found in the fact that the products marketed by these and other Chinese companies are sold at very low costs, thanks to negligible labour costs and practically no duties for all those items that are sold at prices lower than 150 euros in the EU and less than 800 dollars in the US.
