Cyclone (Donald) Trump continued to buffet Wall Street markets this week, but it is US main street that will begin to feel the blowtorch of higher prices in a few days when an array of cheap online consumer goods from China-based Temu and Shein lose their value sheen.

Like Australians, US bargain hunters have enjoyed these ultra-low-priced products from fashion to nail fillers and furniture – products whose popularity has been fuelled by a combination of social media influencers and value for money.

Discounter marketplace Temu has made a big dent in online sales.

But Trump’s decision to hit them with the taxes of up to 145 per cent on Chinese goods combined with the cancellation of the “de minimis” exemption, under which shipments worth less than $US800 ($1243) could be imported duty-free, is coming into effect this week.

(Those rhinestone press nail kits may not look so pretty!)

How this plays out in Australia remains to be seen. But there is a school of thought among economists that this wall of consumer goods once sold from China to the US could be dumped on other markets such as Australia, and that this could be disinflationary for the countries where these goods land.

“We anticipate disinflation in discretionary consumer goods from a glut of Chinese........

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