Since launching a few years ago, Temu and Shein have gained followers with flashy Super Bowl adverts and ultra-low prices.
The popularity has put such pressure on Amazon, the dominant e-commerce company in the US, that the firm is reportedly exploring, external its own discount unit focusing on direct-to-consumer shipments.
Their rise has also brought scrutiny from US politicians and regulators, who have raised questions about the safety of products on their sites, external and warned, external of a “high risk” that Temu was selling products made using forced labour.
Authorities have blamed their success for putting strains on US border and customs authorities, as the number of packages entering the US under the de minimis exemption has surged from 140 million in 2013 to more than 1 billion last year.
In announcing the action, the Biden administration said “several China-founded e-commerce platforms” now accounted for a “majority” of shipments under the $800 threshold.
It said its actions were a response to an “exponential increase in de minimis shipments” that had made it more difficult to identify and block illegal shipments.
It accused companies of looking to skirt consumer protection laws and avoid trade barriers.
“American workers and businesses can outcompete anyone on a level playing field, but for too long, Chinese e-commerce platforms have skirted tariffs by abusing the de minimis exemption,” said Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
The American Action Forum, a right-leaning policy group, has estimated that getting rid of the $800 exemption entirely would result in “$8bn to $30bn in additional annual costs that would eventually be passed on to consumers”.
The proposal will go through a comment period before being finalised and taking effect.
Authorities in the European Union have been exploring similar measures aimed at low-value shipments, Bloomberg and the Financial Times reported, external earlier this year.
Shares in PDD Holdings, which owns Temu, fell more than 2% after the announcement.
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