President Donald Trump signed an executive order cutting the “de minimis” tariff rate on purchases from China this week, a move many consumers might feel the impact of when using shopping apps like Temu or Shein, or even the new kid on the Chinese e-commerce block: DHgate.
On April 16, the Chinese shopping service DHgate boasted the second-most downloaded free app on Apple’s App Store, behind only OpenAI’s ChatGPT. According to a report from Yahoo Finance, the previous week, it was 352nd on the same list, indicating a stratospheric rise in popularity largely attributed to popular TikTok creators advocating for the e-commerce platform as a way to buy directly from China. As of April 25, it was still the 12th most popular shopping app on the App Store.
So what is DHgate precisely? It’s an online shopping platform based in China that has been around since 2004. Similar in function and appearance to other popular sites like Shein and Temu, DHgate allows consumers to make purchases directly from manufacturers in China. It has gained popularity online for its selection of dupes, which are copies of popular brand-name products sold at much lower prices.
According to Yahoo Finance, numerous Chinese influencers have advocated for international consumers to buy these sorts of products on platforms like DHgate. They argue that many high-end brands buy cheaply made goods from Chinese factories and then sell them with sizable mark-ups.
DHgate did not respond to CNET’s request for comment. The company did, however, give a statement to Yahoo in which it said it is “grateful yet remain(s) humble about this phenomenal surge in traffic.”
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Will DHgate help you get around tariffs?
While tariffs are credited with helping juice DHgate’s popularity, the unfortunate reality is that it, and apps like it, will not help you get around Trump’s new tariffs, though recent policy changes might ease the sting a little bit.
China has long been a fixation of Trump’s global trade agenda. The country was the primary target of tariffs and policies during his first term and has remained the biggest target on his second-term agenda, which features a 10% universal tax on imports from all nations and higher rates for countries with trade imbalances with the US. However, the latter has largely been delayed until July. For now, China’s rates remain in effect at 30%, down from 145%, until Aug. 10 as the two nations conduct trade negotiations.
Before the second Trump administration, you might have been able to use sites like DHgate to get cheap goods directly from China and avoid any import taxes due to a rule known as the “de minimis exception,” which stated that purchases under $800 would not be subject to tariffs or other duties. This rule, however, was done away with via an executive order from Trump. In another order this week, Trump had the de minimis rate on Chinese parcels cut to 54% from 120%, which is still sure to make those DHgate purchases a lot more expensive than they used to be.
Speaking with CNET via email, Patti Brennan, CEO of Key Financial, predicted that apps like DHgate wouldn’t be a permanent solution even if they did offer a way around tariffs, as the Trump administration would get wind of them eventually and could “close this loophole one way or the other.”
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