The Chinese abuse of customs tariff loopholes made retailers like Temu and Shein into giants.
The Regime’s decision to implement Republican congressional proposals to end the loophole is belated but worth supporting.
This from frontpagemag.com.
Temu is a nightmare of foreign holding companies, CCP data sharing agreements, and malware apps and it has been growing rapidly using dark patterns and massive amounts of ad spending. Its growth is likely one of the factors wrecking domestic 99 cent stores. And the less of Shein said, the better.
But Temu and Shein are the tip of a much bigger problem.
Cracking down on them helps Amazon and other Big Tech retail giants who are pushing the same Chinese junk on Americans. Amazon, Walmart, and other retailer marketplaces are packed with Chinese third-party sellers selling ‘Shanzhai’ products with fake and ridiculous names, counterfeit products that are copying and underselling American products.
Shanzhai is everywhere. A majority of Amazon is driven by Chinese third-party sellers pushing shanzhai junk.
Even the most casual search of Amazon turns up names like YITAHOME, sweetcrispy, OLIXIS, Prepac, YIGOBUY and LDTTCUK, and a thousand other absurd names. This has become the defining online shopping experience.
Even larger American manufacturers have struggled to get elected officials to crack down on Amazon. Recent court rulings finally held Amazon liable for the dangerous Chinese junk being peddled to consumers despite the company’s insistence that it is just a ‘platform’ and has no responsibility.
Too many politicians, both Leftists and Republicans, however, jump when Amazon demands action.
Cracking down on Chinese retail giants moving into America is important. But Amazon opened the doors. All Chinese retailers did was copy the Amazon model while using their Chinese roots to push junk faster at cheaper prices. And American companies that outsourced to China opened the door to Amazon.
If Chinese retailers displace Amazon and Walmart, the American retail economy is gone, and we’re close to it already.
Our retail sector outsourced so much to China that all we are is a bunch of American storefronts beholden to Chinese labor, manufacturers, retailers, shippers and advertisers.
That is the real crisis. Dealing with it will require more than pandering to Amazon pushing shanzhai for profit.
The next step needs to be a crackdown on Amazon’s Chinese junk.
