Latest news with #Guangzhou-based
RTHK
4 days ago
- Automotive
- RTHK
China's flying car industry quick to commercialise
China's flying car industry quick to commercialise Chinese firm EHang became the first eVOTL-maker in the world to receive a licence to carry passengers commercially. File photo: Xinhua China's flying car-makers could get faster in commercialising compared with global peers given the country's dominance in electric vehicle manufacturing, while top policymakers vigorously promote a "low-altitude" economy as a new driver for national growth. Flying cars or flying vehicles include "electric vertical take-off and landing aircrafts" (eVTOLs) which are a new type of aircraft that utilise electric power for propulsion and are designed to take off and land vertically similar to helicopters, as well as "autonomous aerial vehicles" (AAVs) which are aircraft that operate without direct human control. Speaking on RTHK's "China Perspectives" podcast, Huang Hailong, an assistant professor at the department of aeronautical and aviation engineering at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, noted that the industry has been growing rapidly in the country in recent years, with market size expected to grow four times higher to reach over 2 trillion yuan in about five years, boosted by technological advancements in EV batteries. "From the battery innovation perspective, there are lots of Chinese firms focusing on developing high-energy density batteries, which means that for the same size, same weight of a battery, maybe three years ago it can support just 10 minutes' operation, but with the new technology, it can support 20 or 30 minutes [of flying]," Huang said. He added that while current commercialisation examples of such novel vehicles include those used in agriculture and tourism, they will be able to gradually enrich the urban traffic landscape to make it a more comprehensive three-dimensional system covering land, sea and low-altitude air less than 1,000 metres. The country's innovators, he added, have also moved quickly to take a leap in turning such visions into an everyday reality, with Guangzhou-based EHang in March becoming the first eVTOL-maker in the world to receive a licence to carry passengers commercially with its twin-passenger EH216-S aircraft which has a top speed of 130km/h and a range of 30km. The firm is planning to start offering flights to the public in Guangzhou and another big city - Hefei - by the end of the year, as it forecasts that "flying taxi services" will be viable by 2030. "From the technological perspective, I think this [flying taxi service] is ambitious, but it is still not impossible, because the current trajectory of technological and regulatory and even the infrastructure development is still expanding," he told RTHK. Echoing Huang, Trevor Allen, Head of Sustainability Research at Markets 360, BNP Paribas, noted that the visions of flying cars do show promise as they play into the country's existing industrial strengths - being the world's largest manufacturer of both the batteries such aircraft need, and of electric vehicles, which involve lots of the same technology. "In the EV space, over 80 percent of the components or EV batteries are processed through China today by our calculations. There's a very strong supply chain for creating lithium batteries - particularly for vehicles in that regard. That's going to have a clearer carry-over into this eVTOL urban air mobility space in that sense," he told RTHK. He noted that another distinctive advantage China has in developing the industry is the top-down government guidance and partnership with the private sector, which enables the industry to commercialise faster than competitors. "When you have the top-down approach, you can often bring your products to the market faster, because you have that coordination of the government driving you to go to market. "So the government understands what you need in order to make this business work. But also the government is able to relate to you what parameters you're going to have to operate in, so businesses can quite quickly understand the product and service they're going to be able to offer in that regard," he said. "With these advantages, China is really going to be able to position itself as a first-mover in this industry and a model for other cities of how they can develop this urban air mobility, and to have more cities to really launch their aerial vehicles into their business markets as well."
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
EXCLUSIVE: Toppoint Signs MoU With Peru's Chancay Municipality To Overhaul Waste Management
Toppoint Holdings Inc. (NYSE:TOPP) on Wednesday announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Municipalidad Distrital de Chancay in Peru, marking the beginning of a collaboration to overhaul the area's waste management system. The financial terms of the MoU were not disclosed. With Chancay's mega port construction fueling a sharp rise in construction waste, the deal targets sustainable solutions to meet growing environmental challenges. Toppoint Holdings CEO Leo Chan and Chancay Mayor Juan Alberto Alvarez Andrade signed an MoU to create a joint framework for designing a modern waste management system tailored to the region's expanding residential and industrial collaboration aims to tackle rising construction and industrial waste by assessing the feasibility of a new landfill, transfer station, and recycling initiatives while launching immediate studies and policy planning to attract strategic partners and sustainable investment. 'This partnership underscores Toppoint's dedication to delivering sustainable infrastructure solutions in rapidly growing global markets,' said Leo Chan, CEO of Toppoint Holdings. 'Chancay is a region in the midst of profound transformation, and we understand the vital role that advanced waste management systems play in supporting its continued growth.' Chancay, in Lima's Huaral Province, is becoming a key logistics and trade center in South America, spurred by its new deep-water mega port. This rapid growth is driving urbanization and industrial activity, creating an urgent need for modern waste management solutions to support development and safeguard the environment. In another deal signed in late May, Toppoint Holdings announced it had signed a strategic MOU with Guangzhou-based air cargo firm Jinyangcheng to explore joint air freight operations. The partnership initially focused on cargo movement through JFK Airport, with plans to expand to major U.S. and international hubs. The agreement supported Toppoint's global expansion strategy and strengthened its trans-Pacific logistics capabilities. Price Action: TOPP shares closed 1.08% higher at $1.88 on Tuesday. Read Next:Photo by BCFC via Shutterstock Up Next: Transform your trading with Benzinga Edge's one-of-a-kind market trade ideas and tools. Click now to access unique insights that can set you ahead in today's competitive market. Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga? This article EXCLUSIVE: Toppoint Signs MoU With Peru's Chancay Municipality To Overhaul Waste Management originally appeared on © 2025 Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
China Matters' Feature: Low-altitude Economy -- A New Industry Reshaping Global Transportation
BEIJING, June 10, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- From electric vehicles (EVs) to the 4,500-kilometer high-speed railway network that accounts for two thirds of the global total, China is forging a connected world with its outstanding strength. In the field of transportation, China is pioneering a brand-new frontier: the low-altitude economy. To put it in a simpler way, vehicles can transform into flying machines to facilitate people's daily travels. In the future, flying taxis, delivery drones, and airborne adventures are poised to redefine transportation. With the emergence of such companies as DJI drone, China accounts for over 70% of global civilian drone sales. EHang, a Guangzhou-based tech pioneer, has become the world's first company to secure full aviation certifications for its passenger-carrying flying vehicles. The market value of China's low-altitude economy skyrocketed to over $70 billion in 2023, achieving an impressive annual growth rate of 33.8%. What's more, a new low-altitude route between Shenzhen and Zhuhai cuts the three-hour drive down to a 20-minute flight. Faster, more affordable, and with Instagram-worthy views: this is how urban mobility is redefining itself. None of this would be possible without cutting-edge technology. With 5G-Advanced networks tracking aircrafts in real-time, drones can now help plant crops, deliver packages, aid disaster relief operations. This sector's rapid growth highlights its potential to reshape logistics, tourism, and emergency services, signaling vast economic opportunities. Technological advancements in renewable energy, Al, and telecommunications have accelerated the development of low-altitude technologies, while government support and private investments fuel the progress of the entire industry. By integrating radar systems, 5G networks, and Al-driven monitoring, China aims to build a secure, efficient low-altitude ecosystem for future generations. Click the link below to know more about this new technology. Stay tuned for more exciting content coming soon. YouTube Link: View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE China Matters Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Time of India
03-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
China's Temu and Shein want to crack Europe, but the US is too big to quit
HighlightsHuang Lun, an architect of his Guangzhou-based company's entry into the United States market, is now exploring new markets in Europe and Australia due to imminent tariffs on Chinese imports announced by former United States President Donald Trump. Following the Trump administration's tariff announcement, many Chinese sellers on e-commerce platforms like Shein and Temu have increased their prices significantly, with Shein's average product prices rising over 20% in a matter of weeks. The European Union and United Kingdom face increasing regulatory scrutiny on imported goods from China, with concerns over consumer safety and product standards, as demonstrated by investigations into platforms like Temu and Shein for potential breaches and misleading practices. Huang Lun was one of the original architects of his Guangzhou-based company's push into the US market, helping it to sell underwear and yoga pants via the online commerce platforms Amazon, Temu and Shein . The American market now makes up 70 per cent of the company's total sales, but in March, with US President Donald Trump threatening imminent tariffs on Chinese imports, Huang was tasked with finding new markets in Europe and Australia to help soften the inevitable blow. Huang's company is one of hundreds of thousands that collectively ship billions of dollars worth of goods to the US, taking advantage of digital marketplaces, low-cost, high-volume manufacturing operations in China, US consumers' voracious appetite for cheap clothing, electronics, toys and homeware, and a 'de minimis' exemption on import taxes for low-value packages. The Trump administration's on-again, off-again trade war with China threatens the economics of the business, making it far more expensive to ship products to customers, and putting a tax on every imported product that either the consumer or the retailer will need to pay. To mitigate the risk, Chinese e-commerce platforms are shifting resources to Europe and other markets, spending heavily on promotions to try to woo European consumers. European regulators and retailers are braced for a flood of low-cost goods. But that may be slow to come. The merchants in China — the companies that actually buy, sell and ship apparel, electronics, decorations and toys — are more focused on shoring up their core markets in the US, preferring to take higher risks and lower margins rather than tackle the complexity and bureaucracy of Europe. Huang is among them. When the Trump administration announced 145 per cent tariffs on Chinese imports and cancelled the de minimis exemption, the company initially dropped its sales targets for the US. But soon after, Huang was pulled back to work part-time on the American market again. Trump suspended some tariffs for 90 days, and the company rushed to get new production orders to its factories and booked container space to ship a few more months' worth of inventory to the US. 'We still need to keep an eye on other markets to always prepare in case things get worse again, but it's less urgent now,' he said. 'We feel the US market is back, at least for this year.' Price Hikes After the Trump administration's tariff announcement, many Chinese sellers on e-commerce platforms increased their US prices. The average price of 98 products on Shein tracked by Bloomberg News rose by more than 20 per cent by early May from two weeks prior. Observed sales on Shein were 16 per cent lower for the 28 days ended May 22, compared to the same period a year ago, according to Bloomberg Second Measure, which analyzes credit and debit card transactions in the US. Temu's sales fell about 19 per cent in the same period from 2024 levels. Dumping Fears Some of the frustrations that Chinese companies have found in trying to enter European markets are there by design. The EU and UK typically have more rules on product standards and consumer protections than the US — non-tariff barriers that Trump has referenced in his trade disputes with the continent. European regulators have already begun cracking down. The Commission is formally investigating Temu for potential breaches related to the sale of illegal products and manipulative user interface designs. In May, a separate enforcement action found that Shein used tactics such as fake discounts and misleading sustainability claims. Shein has one month to respond or face possible fines based on its EU turnover. The US' tariffs on China and the end of the de minimis rule has increased a sense of urgency in the EU, but the bloc's concerns predate the trade war. In 2024, about 4.6 billion parcels valued at €150 or less — the EU's de minimis threshold — entered the bloc, almost double the 2023 total. More than 90 per cent originated from China. Policymakers tend to argue that enforcing European standards protect consumers and mean that imported products can't undercut local manufacturers by producing inferior, unsafe goods. 'It's not about trying to prevent affordable products or blocking clever business models that we ourselves didn't come up with,' Bernhard Kluttig, a deputy German economy minister, said. 'It's really just about making sure that everyone plays by the same rules.' When the Darmstadt Regional Council, a regional authority in Germany, tested 800 products from Asian e-commerce platforms, they found 95 per cent of them didn't meet European standards. Among the products were laser pointers that exceeded legal output limits by up to 300 times. 'If you get that in your eye, then your eyesight is gone,' Angelika Küster, head of the council's department for market surveillance, product and chemical safety, said. Other checks found toys with 100 times the permitted concentration of toxic chemicals. The council has stepped up inspections and hired more staff to examine products from e-commerce sites, Küster said, 'but it's clear that we can't compete with the sheer volume of products being introduced.' The European Commission has launched a new initiative called Priority Control Areas to carry out surprise cross-border checks and launched a web crawler tool, which it hopes can help to identify harmful products listed on e-commerce sites. Other potential solutions under discussion at the Commission include introducing a handling fee for e-commerce platforms and implementing a digital product passport, which may provide supply chain transparency through a QR code linked to detailed product information. The EU is in the process of reviewing stricter rules and the elimination of the €150 de minimis customs duty exemption. But as the US has already closed its equivalent in May, there's a risk that the e-commerce players now exploit Europe as a dumping ground while it's still possible. 'We're often not as quick as Donald Trump,' Kluttig said. 'We can't issue executive orders that apply immediately and across all of Europe. We have different elaborate and complex legal processes. Which is important — but decisions take longer.' Similar conversations are going on in the UK, where the de minimis threshold is £135, and where industry groups have long argued that online retailers selling Chinese goods are undercutting local companies by skirting duties and safety checks. Exports of 'low-value' parcels from China to the UK rose 53 per cent in April, according to an analysis of China's customs trade database. Parcels under the £135 threshold generally pass through customs with limited inspection. In research published in October 2024, the British Toy and Hobby Association found 85 per cent of the 75 toys it tested from third party sellers on 11 marketplaces, were non-compliant with EU and UK safety standards. 'It's difficult enough to pay all the taxes that we do without facing competition from people who pay none, particularly when they're supplying goods that are demonstrably not up to UK safety standards,' said Andrew Goodacre, chief executive officer of Teal Group, which owns toy retailer The Entertainer. A Temu spokesperson said that the company takes product safety seriously, with 'a robust seller onboarding process, regular monitoring, and enforcement actions to ensure compliance,' and that it works with testing and certification agencies. 'We are committed to fair competition and supporting local businesses,' the spokesperson said. 'Our platform allows European and UK-based sellers to reach new customers through a low-cost channel, with half of our UK sales expected to come from local sellers and warehouses by the end of 2025. We're expanding this model across Europe, aiming for 80 per cent of our European sales to come from local sellers over time.' A Shein spokesperson said that the company is 'fully committed to ensuring the products we offer are safe and compliant,' and that it is investing USD 15 million this year in product safety and compliance initiatives, performing 2.5 million product safety and quality tests, and expanding its partnerships with testing agencies. AliExpress did not respond to a request for comment. Britain has taken action in recent years. Responsibility for collecting VAT has been shifted onto platforms, as sellers are now required to collect the tax upfront when dispatching parcels. Ollie Marshall, managing director of online electronics retailer Maplin, said that this has lessened competition and led 'Chinese direct sellers on platforms like Amazon actually becoming less prevalent.' However, just as in the EU, the US' dropping of its de minimis rule has increased fears of goods being rerouted and dumped in the UK. The Labour government announced a review of its policy in late April. So far, retailers and trade groups say there isn't much evidence that dumping is happening. Martino Pessina, CEO of Takko Fashion , a German discount clothing chain, said he's actually found short-term benefits from the US policy changes, as the temporary slowing of US demand has meant he's getting more favorable pricing from his own suppliers in China. This speaks to a point that isn't always reflected in the arguments over de minimis rules and the threat of dumped goods via Chinese platforms. 'We already buy in our local stores in the UK and the EU cheap Chinese goods, it's the same goods, often made in the same place,' Anna Jerzewska, customs and trade adviser to the EU and the UK, and director of consultancy Trade & Borders, said. Safety concerns are valid, as is the need to have a level playing field on regulations, she said, 'but the cheap Chinese goods isn't the problem. It's the profits of the UK retailers or the EU retailers.' Constant Disruption Chinese online platforms are unlikely to see the increasing regulatory complexity in developed economies as an insurmountable barrier, according to Mark Greeven, dean of Asia at IMD Business School. The companies are expanding their warehouse capacity in Europe, he said, and Temu has begun to explore different business models, including working with small businesses in European markets. In April, the company signed a memorandum of understanding with DHL to develop its logistics on the continent. 'Part of their advantage which they had in the US, they're trying to transplant to Europe, but they're also reinventing themselves a bit,' Greeven said. It will be challenging to build in Europe the 'proximity with the consumer' that the platforms have achieved in the US, he said, and their model of ultra-low price, algorithmically-marketed products may need to change. It could take a year or more to figure out how to navigate tariffs and tailor their offering to European markets. But the expertise that the Chinese platforms have built in logistics and supply chains means that they are powerful, highly adaptable businesses that will be hard to regulate out of existence, because they've dealt with constant disruption throughout their existence. 'It's been round after round after round, and I think they got pretty good at focusing on their core capabilities,' Greeven said. 'It's a mess, but a mess is an opportunity from the point of view of Chinese entrepreneurs. I think that typically in this situation, Chinese companies prosper because they're not afraid of it, they're used to it.' The future of the US tariff regime is uncertain. In late May, a court ruled that the Trump administration's import taxes were illegal. The government has appealed. For the merchants, the timing of any short-term shift to Europe will be dictated by the simple metric of the US tariff numbers, Wang, from the Shenzhen Cross-border E-commerce Association said. When tariffs were set at 54%, that was the point most exporters couldn't make a profit, he said. 'Before reaching that level, people were struggling with thinner profits, but would rather stay in the US for cash flows and meanwhile start doing research on new markets,' Wang said. 'But let's say the tariffs return to figures higher than that again, you'll just be forced to completely exit and jump to other markets as you'll die faster if you stay.'
Business of Fashion
03-06-2025
- Business
- Business of Fashion
China's Temu and Shein Want to Crack Europe, But the US Is Too Big to Quit
Huang Lun was one of the original architects of his Guangzhou-based company's push into the US market, helping it to sell underwear and yoga pants via the online commerce platforms Amazon, Temu and Shein. The American market now makes up 70 percent of the company's total sales, but in March, with US President Donald Trump threatening imminent tariffs on Chinese imports, Huang was tasked with finding new markets in Europe and Australia to help soften the inevitable blow. Huang's company is one of hundreds of thousands that collectively ship billions of dollars worth of goods to the US, taking advantage of digital marketplaces, low-cost, high-volume manufacturing operations in China, US consumers' voracious appetite for cheap clothing, electronics, toys and homeware, and a 'de minimis' exemption on import taxes for low-value packages. The Trump administration's on-again, off-again trade war with China threatens the economics of the business, making it far more expensive to ship products to customers, and putting a tax on every imported product that either the consumer or the retailer will need to pay. To mitigate the risk, Chinese e-commerce platforms are shifting resources to Europe and other markets, spending heavily on promotions to try to woo European consumers. European regulators and retailers are braced for a flood of low-cost goods. But that may be slow to come. The merchants in China — the companies that actually buy, sell and ship apparel, electronics, decorations and toys — are more focused on shoring up their core markets in the US, preferring to take higher risks and lower margins rather than tackle the complexity and bureaucracy of Europe. Huang is among them. When the Trump administration announced 145 percent tariffs on Chinese imports and cancelled the de minimis exemption, the company initially dropped its sales targets for the US. But soon after, Huang was pulled back to work part-time on the American market again. Trump suspended some tariffs for 90 days, and the company rushed to get new production orders to its factories and booked container space to ship a few more months' worth of inventory to the US. 'We still need to keep an eye on other markets to always prepare in case things get worse again, but it's less urgent now,' he said. 'We feel the US market is back, at least for this year.' Price Hikes After the Trump administration's tariff announcement, many Chinese sellers on e-commerce platforms increased their US prices. The average price of 98 products on Shein tracked by Bloomberg News rose by more than 20 percent by early May from two weeks prior. Observed sales on Shein were 16 percent lower for the 28 days ended May 22, compared to the same period a year ago, according to Bloomberg Second Measure, which analyses credit and debit card transactions in the US. Temu's sales fell about 19 percent in the same period from 2024 levels. To try to convince merchants in China to refocus on European consumers, Shein, Temu and TikTok turned to the same tactics they used to build their markets in the US, spending heavily on advertising and subsidies to sellers and customers. According to data from advertising analytics company AppGrowing Global, the number of new adverts booked by Shein and Temu in the US market fell more than 90 percent in the first three weeks of May, compared to the same period last year. In April and May, Temu's monthly ad volume in Europe was up 12 times from a year earlier, and up more than four times in the UK. Both platforms have bought more adverts in the UK than the US in the past two months. Temu, Shein and Tiktok have offered to pay part or all of the shipping costs to European markets, as well as directly subsidising some purchases. Merchants who spoke to Bloomberg said Temu had offered €2.99 ($3.38) in subsidies on orders below €30, while TikTok was willing to subsidise sales via its newly-launched UK store by £3.48 ($4.66). However, interviews with six Chinese merchants selling on Temu, Shein, TikTok and Amazon suggest that these subsidies aren't enough to convince them to devote significant resources to Europe yet. Those merchants who have tried have found the experience frustrating. Last year, Roy Chen, founder of Shenzhen-based smoke detector maker Sensereo, started selling in Europe via Amazon and his own website. 'I realised I entered a hell mode,' Chen said. 'I now deeply understand why everyone loved starting their overseas businesses in the US market.' To sell in Europe, he had to register for value added tax in each individual market, offer a range of plugs, and translate his instruction manuals into at least five different languages. Rules and product standards kept changing, meaning he had to keep tweaking the product. 'In this highly-fragmented market, there's nowhere to generate such fat profits as people do in the huge single market like the US.' Although he'd originally discounted the US market as too competitive, Chen started selling in the US via his own website — after the tariff announcements. He's still selling in Europe and expects to grow there, but sees the US market as a better prospect in the short term. He expects other Chinese merchants will come to the same conclusion. 'Imagine a Chinese factory boss or merchant who started their US business in the early years and used to earn $100 million per year from just one market,' Chen said. 'Now he has to start from zero, to learn all the complicated rules from Italy, Germany to Spain, and only make a fraction of the money from each market.' Many merchants are in precisely that situation, having spent years establishing themselves in the US, building their relationships with factories and platforms, and understanding what local consumers want, Wang Xin, head of the Shenzhen Cross-border E-commerce Association, said. That's a sunk cost. 'Everyone is now putting all their efforts into prioritising the US market, busy producing and booking containers to ship as much inventory as possible,' Wang said. 'Taking good care of the US business, getting cash flows and surviving, that's the most important and urgent thing now. Exploring other markets is important too, but not urgent, and it's not something you can rush to do.' Dumping Fears Some of the frustrations that Chinese companies have found in trying to enter European markets are there by design. The EU and UK typically have more rules on product standards and consumer protections than the US — non-tariff barriers that Trump has referenced in his trade disputes with the continent. European regulators have already begun cracking down. The Commission is formally investigating Temu for potential breaches related to the sale of illegal products and manipulative user interface designs. In May, a separate enforcement action found that Shein used tactics such as fake discounts and misleading sustainability claims. Shein has one month to respond or face possible fines based on its EU turnover. The US' tariffs on China and the end of the de minimis rule has increased a sense of urgency in the EU, but the bloc's concerns predate the trade war. In 2024, about 4.6 billion parcels valued at €150 or less — the EU's de minimis threshold — entered the bloc, almost double the 2023 total. More than 90 percent originated from China. Policymakers tend to argue that enforcing European standards protect consumers and mean that imported products can't undercut local manufacturers by producing inferior, unsafe goods. 'It's not about trying to prevent affordable products or blocking clever business models that we ourselves didn't come up with,' Bernhard Kluttig, a deputy German economy minister, said. 'It's really just about making sure that everyone plays by the same rules.' When the Darmstadt Regional Council, a regional authority in Germany, tested 800 products from Asian e-commerce platforms, they found 95 percent of them didn't meet European standards. Among the products were laser pointers that exceeded legal output limits by up to 300 times. 'If you get that in your eye, then your eyesight is gone,' Angelika Küster, head of the council's department for market surveillance, product and chemical safety, said. Other checks found toys with 100 times the permitted concentration of toxic chemicals. The council has stepped up inspections and hired more staff to examine products from e-commerce sites, Küster said, 'but it's clear that we can't compete with the sheer volume of products being introduced.' The European Commission has launched a new initiative called Priority Control Areas to carry out surprise cross-border checks and launched a web crawler tool, which it hopes can help to identify harmful products listed on e-commerce sites. Other potential solutions under discussion at the Commission include introducing a handling fee for e-commerce platforms and implementing a digital product passport, which may provide supply chain transparency through a QR code linked to detailed product information. The EU is in the process of reviewing stricter rules and the elimination of the €150 de minimis customs duty exemption. But as the US has already closed its equivalent in May, there's a risk that the e-commerce players now exploit Europe as a dumping ground while it's still possible. 'We're often not as quick as Donald Trump,' Kluttig said. 'We can't issue executive orders that apply immediately and across all of Europe. We have different elaborate and complex legal processes. Which is important — but decisions take longer.' Similar conversations are going on in the UK, where the de minimis threshold is £135, and where industry groups have long argued that online retailers selling Chinese goods are undercutting local companies by skirting duties and safety checks. Exports of 'low-value' parcels from China to the UK rose 53 percent in April, according to an analysis of China's customs trade database. Parcels under the £135 threshold generally pass through customs with limited inspection. In research published in October 2024, the British Toy and Hobby Association found 85 percent of the 75 toys it tested from third party sellers on 11 marketplaces, were non-compliant with EU and UK safety standards. 'It's difficult enough to pay all the taxes that we do without facing competition from people who pay none, particularly when they're supplying goods that are demonstrably not up to UK safety standards,' said Andrew Goodacre, chief executive officer of Teal Group, which owns toy retailer The Entertainer. A Temu spokesperson said that the company takes product safety seriously, with 'a robust seller onboarding process, regular monitoring, and enforcement actions to ensure compliance,' and that it works with testing and certification agencies. 'We are committed to fair competition and supporting local businesses,' the spokesperson said. 'Our platform allows European and UK-based sellers to reach new customers through a low-cost channel, with half of our UK sales expected to come from local sellers and warehouses by the end of 2025. We're expanding this model across Europe, aiming for 80 percent of our European sales to come from local sellers over time.' A Shein spokesperson said that the company is 'fully committed to ensuring the products we offer are safe and compliant,' and that it is investing $15 million this year in product safety and compliance initiatives, performing 2.5 million product safety and quality tests, and expanding its partnerships with testing agencies. AliExpress did not respond to a request for comment. Britain has taken action in recent years. Responsibility for collecting VAT has been shifted onto platforms, as sellers are now required to collect the tax upfront when dispatching parcels. Ollie Marshall, managing director of online electronics retailer Maplin, said that this has lessened competition and led 'Chinese direct sellers on platforms like Amazon actually becoming less prevalent.' However, just as in the EU, the US' dropping of its de minimis rule has increased fears of goods being rerouted and dumped in the UK. The Labour government announced a review of its policy in late April. So far, retailers and trade groups say there isn't much evidence that dumping is happening. Martino Pessina, CEO of Takko Fashion, a German discount clothing chain, said he's actually found short-term benefits from the US policy changes, as the temporary slowing of US demand has meant he's getting more favourable pricing from his own suppliers in China. This speaks to a point that isn't always reflected in the arguments over de minimis rules and the threat of dumped goods via Chinese platforms. 'We already buy in our local stores in the UK and the EU cheap Chinese goods, it's the same goods, often made in the same place,' Anna Jerzewska, customs and trade adviser to the EU and the UK, and director of consultancy Trade & Borders, said. Safety concerns are valid, as is the need to have a level playing field on regulations, she said, 'but the cheap Chinese goods isn't the problem. It's the profits of the UK retailers or the EU retailers.' Constant Disruption Chinese online platforms are unlikely to see the increasing regulatory complexity in developed economies as an insurmountable barrier, according to Mark Greeven, dean of Asia at IMD Business School. The companies are expanding their warehouse capacity in Europe, he said, and Temu has begun to explore different business models, including working with small businesses in European markets. In April, the company signed a memorandum of understanding with DHL to develop its logistics on the continent. 'Part of their advantage which they had in the US, they're trying to transplant to Europe, but they're also reinventing themselves a bit,' Greeven said. It will be challenging to build in Europe the 'proximity with the consumer' that the platforms have achieved in the US, he said, and their model of ultra-low price, algorithmically-marketed products may need to change. It could take a year or more to figure out how to navigate tariffs and tailor their offering to European markets. But the expertise that the Chinese platforms have built in logistics and supply chains means that they are powerful, highly adaptable businesses that will be hard to regulate out of existence, because they've dealt with constant disruption throughout their existence. 'It's been round after round after round, and I think they got pretty good at focusing on their core capabilities,' Greeven said. 'It's a mess, but a mess is an opportunity from the point of view of Chinese entrepreneurs. I think that typically in this situation, Chinese companies prosper because they're not afraid of it, they're used to it.' The future of the US tariff regime is uncertain. In late May, a court ruled that the Trump administration's import taxes were illegal. The government has appealed. For the merchants, the timing of any short-term shift to Europe will be dictated by the simple metric of the US tariff numbers, Wang, from the Shenzhen Cross-border E-commerce Association said. When tariffs were set at 54 percent, that was the point most exporters couldn't make a profit, he said. 'Before reaching that level, people were struggling with thinner profits, but would rather stay in the US for cash flows and meanwhile start doing research on new markets,' Wang said. 'But let's say the tariffs return to figures higher than that again, you'll just be forced to completely exit and jump to other markets as you'll die faster if you stay.'
