What Biden’s Temu and Shein Crackdown Means for Amazon

It’s no surprise that President Joe Biden isn’t a TikTok fan: He’s not really the target demographic. But the president signaled today that he also isn’t a fan of Temu or Shein, two online shopping sites with ties to China that sell lots of cut-price clothing, housewares and other stuff. The Biden administration is taking new steps to close the import duty loophole that has allowed both shopping services to flourish in the U.S. (For more, see our in depth report here.)

Lawmakers have been complaining about the use of the loophole—known as de minimis—for more than a year. In the spring, the administration started cracking down on it, as we reported here. So today’s action hardly comes as a surprise. But it is ironic, given that the Biden administration has separately sued Amazon, alleging that it’s a monopolist that does things which prevent “current competitors from growing and new competitors from emerging.” Heading the list of such competitors are none other than Temu and Shein!