Pacific Money | Economy | East Asia

Can Europe Regulate China’s E-Commerce Giants Without Closing Its Market?

The challenge is not simply how to regulate Chinese platforms, but how to preserve an open and fair market as cross-border commercial networks become increasingly integrated.

The European Union’s decision to end its customs duty exemption for low-value imports is already having a measurable impact on cross-border e-commerce. Since July 1, 2026, goods in consignments valued at up to 150 euro have been subject to a temporary 3 euro customs duty. The charge is calculated according to the tariff categories of the goods in each consignment, rather than being applied as a flat fee to every parcel. The measure marks a significant change for platforms that built their business models around shipping large volumes of low-priced goods directly to European consumers.

Early figures suggest that the effects are substantial. In Germany, combined sales by Shein, Temu, and AliExpress fell by 35.5 percent year on year in the third quarter of 2026, to 566 million euro. Their combined share of the German online retail market also declined, from 5.3 percent in the second quarter to 3.1 percent in the third, according to the German E-Commerce and Distance Selling Trade Association (BEVH). At Liège Airport, a major European hub for e-commerce freight, the volume of small parcels fell by 42 percent after the new duty took effect. Yet the airport handled almost the same total cargo tonnage in the third quarter as it had a year earlier, suggesting that the decline in small-parcel traffic has not translated into a comparable fall in overall freight activity.

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The European Union’s decision to end its customs duty exemption for low-value imports is already having a measurable impact on cross-border e-commerce. Since July 1, 2026, goods in consignments valued at up to 150 euro have been subject to a temporary 3 euro customs duty. The charge is calculated according to the tariff categories of the goods in each consignment, rather than being applied as a flat fee to every parcel. The measure marks a significant change for platforms that built their business models around shipping large volumes of low-priced goods directly to European consumers.

Early figures suggest that the effects are substantial. In Germany, combined sales by Shein, Temu, and AliExpress fell by 35.5 percent year on year in the third quarter of 2026, to 566 million euro. Their combined share of the German online retail market also declined, from 5.3 percent in the second quarter to 3.1 percent in the third,........

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