Republican lawmakers request postal service data on retailers’ shipments from China By Reuters
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: US Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) walks to a meeting of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on Capitol Hill in Washington, US, on February 7, 2023. (Reuters)/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo
Written by Kathryn Masters
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Republican leaders from two House of Representatives committees are asking for U.S. Postal Service data on retailers’ goods shipped from China under a U.S. trade law exemption that exempts some packages worth $800 or less from tariffs.
The exemption, known as the de minimis rule, has gained increasing scrutiny over the past few months from congressional leaders who say it unfairly benefits the two China-founded retailers and rival Temu, which was launched by US parent PDD Holdings in September. .
Timo did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Shen told Reuters it does not use USPS for its shipments from China to the US and continues to make import compliance a “priority”.
Republican Representatives Mike Gallagher, chairman of the House Select Committee of the Communist Party of China, and James Comer, who chairs the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, sent a letter Wednesday to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy asking for “documents, information and data” related to goods from China being shipped to the states. United.
The letter, seen by Reuters, also specifically requested all records and data related to minimum shipments from fiscal years 2021 and 2022.
“Chinese companies can take advantage of the minimum rule and ship products via commercial freight carriers, as well as USPS, directly to US consumers without paying duties and fees or subjecting their products to investigation by authorities,” the order reads.
The Gallagher Select Committee released a separate report earlier this week estimating that Shein and Temu account for more than 30% of all minimum shipments sent to the United States.
There are currently two bipartisan bills in Congress targeting e-commerce companies by proposing bans on e-commerce shipments from China and other non-market economies.
