The popular Chinese ecommerce site Temu appears to have abruptly removed all products in the US version of its online store that ship directly to consumers from China, causing widespread confusion among both the company’s suppliers and customers. The change seemingly happened earlier this week, just days before a trade loophole that allows American consumers to buy products from China without paying tariffs is set to disappear as part of sweeping new import duties imposed by US president Donald Trump.
Over the past week, Temu has rolled out a number of whirlwind changes to its platform as it grappled with the impacts of Trump’s trade war on its US business, which it built over the past three years by offering products at astonishing low prices and promoting itself as a haven for bargain lovers. First, Temu announced that it would begin raising prices on products shipped from China starting on April 25. But then things got a lot more confusing.
Soon afterward, Temu began displaying a separate “import charge” on orders from US customers, seemingly as part of an effort to emphasize the financial impacts of the tariffs. Other retailers have also adopted the tactic, but it has drawn harsh criticism from Trump. By Tuesday, US shoppers realized that Temu had apparently decided to simply block US users from seeing any product listings for items currently located in China or anywhere else outside the US.
The version of Temu’s website and app for the United States now appears entirely filled with products marked with a “Local” label, meaning they are exempt from tariffs because they were shipped into the country before the new import duties went into effect. Prior to this week, consumers had the ability to choose between products with the local label and those without it, the latter of which are typically shipped from China via air cargo after a purchase is made.
“Things are in chaos right now. Ever since the tariffs kept changing, our business has been heavily affected,” says a Temu seller in China who specializes in furniture and home decor and asked to remain anonymous for privacy reasons.
Temu did not immediately respond to questions from WIRED about why it chose to pull all non-local product listings from its US platform.
The shift has brought Temu closer in line with what consumers can expect from competitors like Amazon, says Juozas Kaziukėnas, an independent ecommerce industry analyst. “Today, Temu looks a lot like Amazon. Because everything you buy on Temu today will come to you from their warehouse in the US and probably in just a few days,” he says.
It also means that many US shoppers are suddenly faced with a much narrower selection of goods on Temu, and they are not happy about it. On social media sites like Reddit, users have reported seeing hundreds of products they saved on wish lists and in their shopping carts suddenly become “sold out” overnight.
“I heavily relied on items from Temu for my business, and I am freaking out that I cannot find any of my usual supplies,” wrote one Reddit user on the r/TemuThings subreddit. Another user shared a screenshot they claimed was of a conversation with Temu’s in-app customer service chat feature, in which an agent said the platform is “currently unable to display items outside the US” and couldn’t provide a time frame for how long the limitation would persist.
The change has also confused Temu sellers in China, who apparently weren’t notified ahead of time that Americans would soon no longer be able to browse their products. Adding to the confusion is the fact that Temu allegedly removed a large number of China-based sellers from its platform last week, only to quickly reverse the measure, leading some sellers to initially believe the same issue was happening again, according to sellers who shared their experiences on the Chinese social media site Xiaohongshu.
The furniture and home decor seller confirmed to WIRED that all his products shipped from China have been removed, a decision they believe was made in response to the end of the “de minimis” exception, a rule that allows Americans to import packages from anywhere in the world valued under $800 without needing to pay import duties.
Temu, Shein, and other companies that send customer orders directly from China have benefited from the trade provision for years, but critics say it has given foreign online shopping platforms an unfair advantage. Trump issued an executive order earlier this year declaring that de minimis would no longer apply to shipments from China starting on May 2.
“It may be that the platform needs to make some regulatory adjustments during this difficult period,” says the Temu furniture seller.
In the end, Trump’s trade war may fundamentally alter the way Temu operates in the US and its strategies for retaining American customers. The company became popular in the US both because of its lavish advertising spending and the fact that it could consistently provide lower prices for similar items offered on other ecommerce platforms. With high tariffs on Chinese imports and the end of de minimis exemption, the cost of Temu products could go up quite significantly, and it may also take longer for people to receive packages now subject to a more rigorous customs clearance process.
Even before Trump announced the tariffs, Temu was already making changes to its business model, including storing more inventory in US-based warehouses and experimenting with a more traditional, Amazon-esque logistics structure. The platform is also currently exploring another shipping program it calls “Y2,” which Temu started onboarding Chinese sellers to on April 27, according to Chinesellers, a newsletter focused on cross-border ecommerce.
As the publication explains, Y2 is a more flexible variation of Temu’s existing US warehousing model, with sellers shipping individual orders rather than bulk inventory. But the sellers are in charge of handling the new tariffs and customs declaration process, as well as any problems that may come with it, rather than Temu shouldering the burden. In many ways, it’s similar to an existing Amazon logistics option called “Fulfillment by Merchant,” or FBM.
These platform-wide changes highlight how quickly Temu has been adapting to the current volatile policy environment, but the company also risks losing what was once a core part of its identity and comparative advantage. “It strikes me as a massive step backwards for Temu. What has really helped Temu differentiate itself from Wish and AliExpress is it controls the supply chain, so it can guarantee the delivery speed and the level of quality assurance to provide a consistent experience,” says Kaziukėnas.
The furniture Temu seller tells WIRED that they have so far held back from jumping on the Y2 wagon. “We’re a large organization, so we can’t make changes overnight. We’re still observing to see if the policies will change,” the seller explains.
Temu is also trying to increase its sales in other markets like Europe, where tariffs on Chinese imports remain far lower than in the US. One Chinese Temu seller tells WIRED that while their US listings have been removed, their overall sales have increased due to growth from other regions.
