- Donald Trump's executive orders could stop cheap shipping for e-commerce orders direct from China.
- That would be bad news for Temu and Shein.
- The biggest question: What will happen to the $2.74 mousepad I ordered from Temu last week?!
A few days ago, I noticed I needed a new mousepad. The cloth covering was starting to peel away from the rubber. So I went to Temu — more on that in a minute.
Mousepads are some of those things that — in theory — you should never buy; they just come into your life, like cheap umbrellas or Mason jars.
But due to decades of repetitive motion from typing, my weary wrists need the kind of mousepad with the ergonomic padded blob at the end, not the plain flat ones you accumulate for free.
So, spend my own money I must.
Now, I have conflicted feelings about shopping on Temu, but a mousepad is kind of a perfect Temu item: Quality doesn't really matter, and a $3 one is the same as a $10 one — at least to the human eye. As a price-sensitive shopper, I went for it.
I found a plain gray mousepad with a wrist rest on Temu for $2.74 and ordered it.
Well, it wasn't quite that simple — Temu requires a $15 minimum for an order to ship, so I threw in a few other items: a squishy elbow rest, a new phone case, some hair scrunchies.
Then disaster struck. Shortly after I placed my order, President Donald Trump declared an end to the "de minimis" exemption. There's still some discussion as to exactly what his executive order will mean, but de minimis allows orders under $800 to ship directly from China to US customers without encountering duties and taxes. It's a big part of how Temu and Shein have operated in the US so successfully.
Then things went apocalyptic for my mousepad: On Tuesday evening, the US Postal Service stopped taking inbound parcels from China. By Wednesday morning, the USPS had reversed that decision, resuming service.
What all of this means for Temu and similar sellers like Shein isn't exactly clear, but let's just assume it's not good. (Temu didn't respond to a request for comment.)
Still, both e-commerce platforms have advanced beyond shipping only directly from mainland China, and now many of their sellers have warehouses in the US to ship orders domestically.
On Temu's homepage, the top promoted section was for "local warehouse stores" — sellers shipping from warehouses in the US.
Shein's website had a less prominent tab for "QuickShip" items that ship from the US, which wasn't visible at all on its mobile app.
While relations with one of our largest trade partners are up in the air, I have great news about my mousepad (which I'm sure you were worried about).
My Temu order appears to be still moving along in processing to be shipped.