U.S. trade war with China. That's all he's lost

The owner of the Chinese online store Temu, PDD Holdings, recorded a 47 percent drop in profits in the first 4th of 2025," the BBC station reported. Chen Lei's CEO estimated that this was the consequence of a commercial policy led by US president Donald Trump.

Temu's shares, 1 of the leading e-commerce companies listed on the US stock exchange, fell by over 13% this week.when the company informed that it had profits in the first 3 months of the year fell to 14.74 billion yuan (about $2 billion).

President of PDD Holdings said US-China trade war "has put considerable force on buyers". In his opinion, the decrease in profit was caused by, inter alia, changes in customs tariffs.

Before the fresh customs policy was announced by the Trump Temu administration and another Chinese sales platforms, specified as Shein, benefited from tariff exemptions. This allowed the sale and dispatch of goods of small value to the US without having to pay import taxes.

Trump's tough policy

In early May, however, Chinese e-commerce giants faced advanced US tariffs of 120 percent. In consequence Temu declared that the sale of Chinese goods would halt straight to American customers.

After temporary settlement of trade tensions between Washington and Beijing, the work rates for low-value shipments sent to the US were reduced to 30% for 90 days.

The BBC noted that Chinese online shops may besides have problems selling their products to customers from the European Union and the UK. The EU proposed to introduce a fixed fee of EUR 2 per tiny package delivered straight to the customer's home.

Source: PAP