China’s Temu and Shein: An Addictive Invasion Targeting America
President Trump has just disrupted the day for countless American shoppers by closing a loophole that permitted discount giants like Temu and Shein to operate without tariffs in the United States.
Being a shopping enthusiast is rather straightforward these days: if you’re into fashion, Shein allows you to snag a dress or suit for a few dollars.
With Temu, you can order just about anything directly from China, including kitchen items, puzzles, toys, and bookshelves. It’s a mix of results—sometimes you receive something useful, while at other times, you might think you’re getting a necklace only to find it’s an animal tooth strung up as jewelry.
No joke. That’s exactly what one woman in the UK ended up with when she made a purchase from the site.
Temu and Shein mishaps have turned into a genre of engaging online content, and with how easy it is to fill a shopping cart with a variety of items for almost nothing, it’s an affordable way to gamble on finding something useful or total junk that can provide a laugh.
However, there’s no such thing as a free lunch, and even our lowest-cost items come with repercussions.
As Diane Rinaldo writes for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Chinese Communist Party’s involvement in e-commerce serves a purpose: “Temu, in effect, is an information-gathering spyware program disguised as an e-commerce platform”—similar to TikTok, which has garnered more significant regulatory scrutiny.
The costs extend beyond national security and affect American businesses adversely.
Thousands of American businesses are suffering due to these retailers and are shutting down. China disregards copyright and counterfeit concerns—taking any good American idea and producing it cheaply (both in price and quality).
Jennifer Compton, a small business owner from Missouri who creates handmade wooden educational products for Treasures From Jennifer, remarked, “We’ve observed a decline in sales of our most popular products as we watch several other marketplaces like Temu offer similar, if not identical, items.”
Sarah Dubbeldam also faces challenges with her clothing brand, Darling Society. The impact goes beyond the economic; it’s ethical too, as Dubbeldam noted: “Small brands produce smaller quantities at fair prices, which naturally costs more to do correctly without exploiting anyone through corrupt or child labor.”
Temu and Shein have turned shopping into a game, featuring spinning wheels for cash rewards, countdown timers, piggy bank incentives for every purchase, and impulse-inducing pop-up notifications.
China has initiated a multi-front war on our consumer minds, transforming us into gamblers seeking dopamine hits on TikTok or shopping through their apps that clutter our homes with unnecessary items.
Trump’s tariffs are not solely about economic strategy; they symbolize a clear geopolitical declaration of American power and authority.
Radio host Hugh Hewitt remarked, “China . . . has made the US reliant on supply chains emerging from a communist nation that is our adversary . . . Would we trade with the Nazis or the Soviets in the Stalin-era post-war years as though they were just another country?”
American millennials and Gen-Zers have thrown fits over the prospect of losing access to TikTok after the Supreme Court upheld legislation demanding the app transition ownership away from the CCP. We’re likely to witness a similar outcry regarding the affordable “products” from Temu and Shein.
Americans will need to choose what matters more to them: their cheap products marked as Made in China or the security of American interests.
It’s President Donald Trump’s responsibility to convey this message to the populace. This isn’t merely a trade conflict; it’s a fight for our existence. Generally, wars are fought on battlefields; this one could be resolved by simply deleting a few applications from our devices.
It appears we’re not as resilient as our grandparents, but forgoing a $4 shirt or kitchen gadget shouldn’t be too much to ask.
Bethany Mandel writes and podcasts at The Mom Wars and is a homeschooling mother of six in the greater Washington, DC area.