<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">Topline</h2>



Shein and Temu, major online retailers known for their wildly low prices, said they would raise prices for some products Friday after President Donald Trump imposed hefty tariffs on China, though it’s unclear which products will get more expensive, or by how much.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Key Facts</h2>



<a href="https://us.shein.com/campaigns/sheincustomernotice" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Shein</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.temu.com/common-policy.html?policy=temucustomernotice" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Temu</a>&nbsp;said in nearly identical notices to customers this week they would increase prices on goods, though they did not specify how much more expensive certain items would become.



Both retailers attributed their impending price increases to Trump’s tariffs on U.S. imports, which both companies said have caused their operating costs to rise.



Both Shein and Temu primarily produce goods in China, Trump’s biggest tariff target, which now faces a total tariff rate of 145% and has demanded that Trump drop the steep tariffs.



Sales for both Shein and Temu spiked after Trump announced his tariffs policy,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-16/temu-shein-see-us-sales-surge-ahead-of-small-parcel-tariff" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Bloomberg reported</a>&nbsp;last week.



Forbes has reached out to Shein and Temu for comment.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">How Have Consumers Reacted To Shein And Temu’s Price Increases?</h2>



Consumers have largely flocked to Shein and Temu because of their extremely low prices, prompting some to raise alarms on social media about the price increases. One user posted a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@notchiaraaceto/video/7495482729983659294?is_from_webapp=1&amp;sender_device=pc" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">video</a>&nbsp;suggesting the best deals for consumers to take advantage of before the price increases take effect, including earrings for $2, a reusable water bottle resembling a Stanley cup for $21 and sunglasses for $3. Another&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@maryah781/video/7495013921414303019?is_from_webapp=1&amp;sender_device=pc" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">user</a>, who has 75,000 followers and regularly reviews Shein products, urged her followers to place their orders before Shein raises prices and said in the comment section she wouldn’t be placing any more orders after the price hikes. Some users posted videos joking they were ordering their last “Shein hauls” before the price increases, including&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@ramuleus/video/7491065553679945002?is_from_webapp=1&amp;sender_device=pc" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">one</a>&nbsp;who garnered 1 million likes joking he’d avoid tariffs by crossing the ocean to pick up his Shein packages.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What’s The Latest On Trump’s China Tariffs?</h2>



Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2025/04/10/trumps-tariffs-on-china-are-now-at-least-145-white-house-confirms-higher-than-he-previously-claimed/">hiked his tariffs</a>&nbsp;on China multiple times to a rate of 145%.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/22/business/trump-china-trade-war-reduction-hnk-intl/index.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Trump said</a>, however, those rates would “come down substantially, but it won’t be zero,” at the White House on Tuesday, acknowledging the rate of 145% is “very high.” The shift came after weeks of back-and-forth with China as neither side appeared to back down amid an escalating trade war. Trump claimed Wednesday that China and the United States are “actively” negotiating tariff de-escalation, but Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/tariff-trade-war-china-beijing-trump-washington-us-economy-markets-rcna202535" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Guo Jiakun</a>&nbsp;responded that the sides “have not engaged in any consultations or negotiations regarding tariffs, let alone reached an agreement.” Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesperson&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2025/04/24/china-demands-rollback-on-all-unilateral-tariffs-as-it-rebuffs-trumps-offer-to-negotiate/">He Yadong</a>&nbsp;said Thursday China is open to negotiations, but they must be fair and mutual, urging the U.S. to “cancel all unilateral tariff measures against China.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Key Background</h2>



Shein and Temu both emerged in recent years as hugely popular, yet controversial, retailers that have dominated the fast fashion and e-commerce spaces. Shein reported $38 billion in total sales in 2024, up 19% from the year prior, though its profits dropped by more than a third, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ft.com/content/021b5460-76e1-408d-83f6-91b9e05180d7" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Financial Times reported</a>. AB Bernstein and Tech Buzz China analysts told&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wired.com/story/temus-takeover-is-now-complete/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Wired</a>&nbsp;in December Temu was on track to reach $50 billion in sales in 2024. Their dominance has inspired multiple competitors to launch their own low-priced e-commerce storefronts, including Amazon’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2024/11/13/what-to-know-about-amazon-haul-e-commerce-giants-new-temu-and-shein-competitor/">Amazon Haul</a>, which launched in November, and TikTok’s TikTok Shop. But Shein and Temu have both faced criticism for the allegedly poor quality of their products and accusations of poor working conditions. A&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/22/business/economy/shein-temu-forced-labor-china.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">congressional inquiry</a>&nbsp;in 2023 found an “extremely high risk that Temu’s supply chains are contaminated with forced labor,” while a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-11-21/shein-s-cotton-clothes-tied-to-xinjiang-china-region-accused-of-forced-labor" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Bloomberg report</a>&nbsp;found some cotton used in Shein’s products came from Xinjiang, a region of China where U.S. officials allege China is committing human rights abuses against the Uyghur people. Both Shein and Temu have also sparked scrutiny for their ties to China, though neither is headquartered there.&nbsp;<a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/curious-case-temu-u-headquarters-154253838.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Temu’s headquarters</a>&nbsp;are located in Boston, though the company is owned by the Chinese e-commerce company PDD.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/exclusive-chinese-fashion-firm-shein-singapore-hiring-spree-it-shifts-key-assets-2022-02-16/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Shein moved</a>&nbsp;its headquarters from China to Singapore in 2022.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Further Reading</h2>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2025/04/24/china-demands-rollback-on-all-unilateral-tariffs-as-it-rebuffs-trumps-offer-to-negotiate/">China Demands Rollback On All Unilateral Tariffs As It Rebuffs Trump’s Offer To Negotiate</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/tariff-trade-war-china-beijing-trump-washington-us-economy-markets-rcna202535" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Trump says the U.S. and China are &#8216;actively&#8217; discussing tariffs. Beijing says that&#8217;s false.</a>&nbsp;(NBC News)

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Shein And Temu Will Raise Prices Amid Trump Tariffs—What To Know

The Chinese e-commerce sites ship the equivalent of 88 Boeing 777 freighters of cargo worldwide every day. The vast volume has sent air freight rates through the roof, but the two companies have been willing to subsidize fast shipping as they grow globally — for now.



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Nine months ago, Niall van de Wouw, who tracks air freight shipments across the globe for logistics analytics company Xeneta, had never heard of Temu.



But seemingly overnight, the Chinese e-commerce site, along with another fast-growing competitor Shein, became so popular with American consumers that it spiked prices for fast shipping by airplane from China, creating a cargo crunch that’s altering global trade routes for an air freight industry scrambling to keep up.



“Nobody saw it coming last year,” van de Wouw, Xeneta’s chief air freight officer, told&nbsp;Forbes. “Their volumes could be the same order of magnitude as the largest freight forwarder in the world. Their volumes are crazy.”



At the time, the company was only a year and a half old. “This is very unusual,” he said. “I cannot recall one or two companies producing so much demand. That’s the scary bit about exponential growth.”



Temu, which largely sells clothing and housewares, and Shein, which built its brand on fast-fashion and has since expanded to consumer electronics and kitchen items, are unlike other retailers in that they sell items made directly by no-name Chinese companies, rather than selling an American brand that is made overseas. Part of their low cost has come from their decision to ship directly from China from those manufacturers, rather than working with well-known American brands that impose greater costs, prices, and quality. (The two Chinese companies have gotten so well-known that during&nbsp;Saturday Night Live’s&nbsp;season May 18 finale, the show&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKTN2OiR2R8" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">lampooned</a>&nbsp;a fictional company called “Xiemu.”)



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
“Shein and Temu have a continuous &#8216;thirst&#8217; for air freight, which is unparalleled to anything we have seen previously.”Wenwen Zhang, air freight analyst, Xeneta
</blockquote>



But to get customers&#8217; their products in a reasonable amount of time, both companies have been relying heavily on air freight. Temu and Shein combined ship around 9,000 tons of cargo worldwide every day, or approximately 88 Boeing 777 freighters filled to the brim, according to February research from Cargo Facts Consulting. (The scale is comparable to Amazon’s Prime Air fleet, which has 86 aircraft in service, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.planespotters.net/airline/Amazon-Prime-Air" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Planespotters</a>.)



That’s driven up prices to near-unprecedented levels. According to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.xeneta.com/blog/robust-transpacific-air-cargo-market-set-for-busier-summer-than-usual" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">latest figures from Xeneta</a>, so far, the May air cargo “average spot rate” from southern China to the U.S. is now at about $4.75 per kilogram, the highest it’s been since the end of last year, rivaling what’s typically&nbsp;<a href="https://www.xeneta.com/blog/robust-transpacific-air-cargo-market-set-for-busier-summer-than-usual" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">peak demand</a>&nbsp;in the run-up to the holiday season. That’s more than double during same period in 2019, when the rate was $2.32 per kilogram.



The rates are still lower than recent peaks in 2020 and 2021, when that rate reached a high of $10 to $12 per kilogram. But those heights were due to the pandemic, which created shipping and supply chain shortages across the globe. Now, analysts say the rise is largely due to just two companies: Temu and Shein.



To keep up, some logistics and airline companies have even begun adding more flights to prepare for more growth. For instance, Atlas Air, an American air freight firm,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.atlasairworldwide.com/2024/03/atlas-air-and-yunexpress-expand-strategic-partnership-with-second-boeing-777-200-freighter/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">announced</a>&nbsp;earlier this spring that it would soon launch a second air freight plane into service in partnership with YunExpress, a Chinese shipping company.



Regionally, Korean Air&nbsp;<a href="https://www.koreanair.com/us/en/footer/about-us/newsroom/list/240508-korean-air-s-financial-results-for-q1-2024--non-consolida" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">reported</a>&nbsp;earlier this month that it had made $2.8 billion in revenue during the first quarter of 2024, citing “robust cargo demand,” a 20 percent year-over-year increase. The airline added that during the second quarter, its cargo business would “capitalize on the growing e-commerce demand from China by strengthening client partnerships and allocating capacity on key routes.”



“Shein and Temu have a continuous &#8216;thirst&#8217; for air freight, which is unparalleled to anything we have seen previously,” Wenwen Zhang, an air freight analyst with Xeneta, emailed&nbsp;Forbes.



The boom has even impacted global shipping routes. Temu has begun new sea and air routes via Taiwan, Japan and Korea into the U.S., “altering traditional trade patterns,” per a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24654163-asia-pac-monthly-freight-report-april-to-may-2024#document/p5/a2558684" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">report</a>&nbsp;from Taiwanese shipping company Dimerco. “Consequently, freight rates from these alternative routes are now exceeding those from mainland China—an unusual occurrence.”



Last Monday, the Chinese government also&nbsp;<a href="https://english.www.gov.cn/news/202405/13/content_WS6641fdd3c6d0868f4e8e70ee.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">trumpeted</a>&nbsp;a new air cargo route between the southern Chinese city of Zhengzhou and Dallas and Atlanta that are “primarily catering to cross-border e-commerce shipments.”



Sending cargo by air is always considerably faster and more expensive than shipping by sea, which can carry a much larger volume of goods, albeit at a slower pace. The overwhelming majority of worldwide goods as measured by volume are shipped by sea, with typically only time-sensitive and high-value items put on planes.



Then there’s the environmental cost. According to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.freightos.com/freight-resources/air-sea-freight-co2-emissions-calculator/#:~:text=How%20Much%20CO%E2%82%82%20Does%20A,ton%20per%20kilometer%20of%20transportation." rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Freightos</a>, an online freight booking marketplace, cargo ships generate approximately 10 to 40 grams of carbon dioxide per metric ton-kilometer traveled, far less than air freight, which emits around 500 grams per metric ton-kilometer. )



For now, Shein and Temu provide free shipping for orders over a certain size, seemingly willing to absorb the higher costs as a shortcut to accelerated growth in the U.S. “Temu and Shein are relying on air freight because their business model is ultra-fast fashion and they need to get all these goods out immediately,” Guillermo Ochovo, the director at Cargo Facts Consulting, told&nbsp;Forbes.&nbsp;“They don&#8217;t have any other way than relying on air right now.”



But that could change over the medium to longer-term as the companies look for ways to cut costs now that they’re both established e-commerce platforms. They currently lack a maritime shipping and ground-based domestic logistics network comparable to Amazon or Walmart, but both companies have slowly started to expand their footprint within the United States and Mexico. Shein now has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/shein-shifts-shipping-strategy-bring-china-made-goods-closer-us-shoppers-2023-09-22/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">two distribution centers in Indiana</a>&nbsp;and California, and Temu has recently begun&nbsp;<a href="https://www.marketplacepulse.com/articles/temu-marketplace-launches-in-the-us" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">working with Chinese sellers</a>&nbsp;already based in the U.S.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
“The fact that we are talking about this kind of a market this early in the year is leading a lot of people to thinking how challenging peak season, Q4, will be.”Brian Bourke, Global Chief Commercial Officer, SEKO Logistics
</blockquote>



Air freight’s high costs come in part from largely empty planes that must make the return trip back from the U.S. to China: shipping in that direction costs maybe a fifth of the price to ship from China to the U.S., van de Wouw said.



“You get a full plane to the U.S. and a deadhead on the way back,” he said, using an aviation industry term for a near-empty or fully empty plane. “The backhaul becomes a bloodbath.”



Neither Shein nor Temu responded to Forbes’ request for comment.



A big TV advertising blitz in the U.S. has fueled Temu’s growth, including ads during the 2023 and 2024 Super Bowls that encouraged Americans to “shop like a billionaire.”&nbsp;<a href="https://business.yougov.com/content/49162-deep-discount-wonders-how-aware-are-us-shoppers-of-retail-brand-temu" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">New survey data released last month from YouGov</a>&nbsp;shows that nearly all Americans surveyed said they had heard of the company.



Its parent company&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/pdd-holdings/?sh=6e123a883cba">PDD Holdings</a>, which also owns an enormous sister online merchant site called Pinduoduo that only operates in China, is worth more than $167 billion. PDD Holdings is technically based in the Cayman Islands. The company has over 17,000 employees worldwide, according to its most recent&nbsp;<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24613208-pdd-holdings-inc-2023-annual-report#document/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">annual report</a>, the overwhelming majority of which are believed to be working in China.



Last month, PDD Holdings announced record&nbsp;<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24613208-pdd-holdings-inc-2023-annual-report#document/p94/a2554734" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">annual profits of over $8.4 billion</a>&nbsp;in 2023, which includes approximately $5 billion in net income attributed to “other subsidiaries of PDD Holdings,” a group that includes Temu. That’s nearly twice as much as the $3.4 billion in profits brought in by the Chinese arm of the company.Shein is valued at $66 billion&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/11/27/shein-files-for-us-ipo-as-fast-fashion-giant-looks-to-expand-its-global-reach.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">according to CNBC</a>, has been rapidly encroaching into the territory of American fashion brands like Gap and Macy’s. The privately-held company has also grown incredibly fast, going from an approximated $2.5 in revenue in 2019 to an estimated $48 billion this year,&nbsp;<a href="https://ecommercedb.com/insights/shein-business-strategy-growth-competition/4708" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">according to ECDB</a>, a German e-commerce analytics firm.



Both companies, which are likely to surpass revenues of $90 billion this year, stand to have a record-breaking holiday season — and shippers are already concerned.



“The fact that we are talking about this kind of a market this early in the year is leading a lot of people to thinking how challenging peak season, Q4, will be,” Brian Bourke, chief commercial officer of SEKO logistics, told&nbsp;Forbes.



“If we are like this now and it’s early May, imagine what it will be in September, October, November and December?”

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