The Unexpected Winners of Trump’s Trade War

But Shein and Temu didn’t halt selling each together. Instead, some companies chose to displacement their advertisement budgets overseas to regions wherever the geopolitical risks were perceived to beryllium little and maturation opportunities much abundant. Shein spent 22 percent of its wide advertizing walk successful the US marketplace during the 2nd quarter, compared to 39 percent successful the archetypal 3 months of 2025, according to Sensor Tower. Temu’s US spend, meanwhile, went from 47 percent to simply 9 percent. As a result, their income successful countries different than the US, specified arsenic the UK, person surged to record highs.

But the dip didn’t past long. After hitting stone bottommost successful June, some companies began ramping backmost up their US advertisement spending successful July, Shah’s information shows. In August, Shein spent much connected selling successful the US than it did successful August 2024.

The figures bespeak the information that the Chinese platforms had figured retired a caller playbook: continue shipping products contempt the tariffs, walk immoderate costs to consumers, and enactment competitory by focusing connected gathering autarkic proviso chains and warehouse networks that tin assistance support shipping costs down.

App store charts suggest that the caller strategy is working. After a little descent successful popularity earlier this year, Shein and Temu were present erstwhile again ranking wrong the apical 5 apps successful the buying class of the US Apple App Store and Google Play store arsenic of Wednesday.

Temu and Shein did not instantly reply to requests for remark from WIRED.

Behind the Curve

The large Chinese platforms had been preparing for the extremity of de minimis for much than a year, and were capable to rapidly recalibrate their logistics strategies erstwhile the tariffs yet went into effect. The aforesaid cannot beryllium said for autarkic shops.

Denys, the Ukrainian Etsy store owner, says he’s anticipating needing to rise the terms of his products to enactment afloat. “If the caller tariffs remain, prices volition inevitably summation by astatine slightest that 10 percent successful the future,” helium says.

He has precocious begun moving with a section Ukrainian shipping institution called NovaPost, which stepped successful to assistance sellers navigate customs procedures and pledged to enarthrosis portion of the interest increases for section companies. The concern successful Ukraine is acold little chaotic than successful different parts of the world, wherever galore postal companies person wholly halted sending packages to the US due to the fact that of ongoing disorder implicit the details of Trump’s commercialized policies.

I deliberation we each payment from being capable to store from tiny vendors astir the world. Over the past fewer years, I’ve purchased a 3D-printed topographic representation from Canada, creation prints from Germany, and Denys’ woodwork from Ukraine. I didn’t acceptable retired to store from overseas brands, but modern planetary ecommerce platforms gave maine entree to a wider scope of products, which were often sold astatine little prices than the goods successful adjacent retail stores. Short of learning carpentry myself, Denys’ Etsy store successful Ukraine is astir apt the champion enactment for getting affordable customized woodwork to my location successful New York City.

But with the extremity of de minimis, galore Americans mightiness take to chopped backmost connected buying artisanal goods and different non-essential items from abroad. If that happens, tiny sellers volition beryllium the ones deed the hardest. “This mostly affects impulse buying and past things we don’t need,” Juozas Kaziukėnas, an ecommerce level analyst, told my workfellow Boone Ashworth. “It's not affecting the terms of milk, for example.”

I’m inactive waiting for my woody slats, which Denys says should yet wide customs soon. I’m hoping that businesses similar his are capable to past successful this caller ecosystem. Otherwise, I mightiness person nary prime but to instrumentality up carpentry, but who knows however overmuch I would person to wage successful tariffs connected my caller woodworking tools?

This is an variation of Zeyi Yang and Louise Matsakis’ Made successful China newsletter. Read erstwhile newsletters here.