Chinas Temu and Shein are an addictive, thieving attack on America

President Trump just ruined the day for millions of American shopaholics by closing a loophole that allowed discount giants Temu and Shein to operate tariff-free in the US.It’s easy to be a shopping addict these days: for the fashion-focused, you can jump on Shein and pick up a dress or suit for a few bucks.On Temu, you can direct order from China anything you can imagine, from kitchen goods to puzzles to toys to bookshelves.It’s all hit-or-miss — sometimes you get something useable, and other times, you think you’re ordering a necklace and end up with an animal tooth thrown onto a string.No, really.

That’s what one woman in the UK ended up with when she ordered from the site.Temu and Shein fails have become a genre of fun internet content, and considering how easy it is to amass a shopping cart full of junk for just a few bucks, it’s a low-cost way to roll the dice on getting something useable, or total garbage you can have a laugh about.But there’s no such thing as a free lunch, and even our cheapest junk comes at a cost.But writing for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Diane Rinaldo explains why the Chinese Communist Party participates in the e-commerce business: “Temu, in effect, is an information-gathering spyware program masquerading as an e-commerce site” — much like TikTok, which has drawn far more regulatory attention.The cost isn’t just to our national security but is also borne by American businesses.Thousands of American businesses are taking a hit because of these retailers, and shutting their doors.China cares not for copyright or knockoffs — they take any good American idea and produce it cheaply (both in quality and cost).Jennifer Compton, a small business owner from Missouri producing handmade wooden educational products for Treasures From Jennifer, told me, “We’ve seen our most popular products decline in sales while watching numerous other marketplaces like Temu offer similar, if not identical, items...