More Than Half of U.S. Consumers Express Concern Over Trump’s China Tariffs
More than half of Americans are concerned about rising prices due to President Donald Trump’s tariffs on China, according to new data from Omnisend.
The e-commerce marketing platform conducted a survey among U.S. shoppers to gauge their attitudes about online marketplace platforms like Temu and Amazon in the face of changing regulations.
The results show that, despite Trump winning both the popular and electoral votes after campaigning on the economy, the cost of eggs and using tariffs for U.S. gain, some Americans may not be willing to put their money where their vote went.
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According to Omnisend, nearly three in 10 Americans said that, if prices increase on direct-from-China goods sold from marketplaces like Temu, they would instantly stop buying or purchase less. One-fifth of shoppers said they would continue to shop on these platforms, unless price increases became “noticeable,” which Omnisend defined as an uptick of 20 percent or more.
Those price increases may be coming—both on goods that appear on consumers’ doorsteps after being shipped directly from China, and on goods sold by traditional brands and retailers that rely on the power of Chinese manufacturing.
Just days after his second term began, Trump used an executive order to usher in a 10-percent tariff on goods inbound from China. The survey found that 42 percent of U.S. consumers said they oppose Trump’s new tariffs on Chinese goods. One in four consumers said they were undecided, and 34 percent said they favored the tariffs.
The initial move also included the death of de minimis, a trade exemption that enables parcels with a value of $800 or less to enter the country without duties.
The president quickly reversed course on that move, not long after the United States Postal Service (USPS) temporarily suspended acceptance of shipments from China and Hong Kong. It remains to be seen how long it might take to again axe de minimis entry, but Trump administration officials have stated that once U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) can streamline a more efficient way of collecting tariffs and inspecting inbound packages, China’s access to the de minimis exemption will be terminated.
If that happens, consumers may have to pay the duties themselves. Alternatively, low-cost marketplace sellers may have to absorb the cost of taxed entries, driving up the base price of items offered to consumers.
Shein and Temu are actively working to ensure they can continue offering low prices—Temu by using U.S. logistics infrastructure to ship products domestically, and Shein by encouraging suppliers to set up shop in Vietnam rather than China. But if the companies can’t find a way to keep products inexpensive for U.S. consumers, that could take away some of low-cost marketplaces’ competitive edge over more traditional brands and retailers.
Algolia data shows that low prices are, by far, the No. 1 consumer motivation for buying from Shein, Temu, Amazon Haul, AliExpress and other companies with a significant direct-from-China footprint. Sixty-five percent of consumers indicated that low prices were a deciding factor for them when choosing to purchase from a low-cost marketplace.
And while some legacy brands and retailers have other qualities to fall back on, consumers report lower levels of trust in companies like Temu and TikTok Shop than their big retail counterparts. Algolia’s data showed that about four in 10 U.S. consumers said they trust traditional retailers to handle payment, returns and other customer service issues more than low-cost marketplaces.
Omnisend’s data showed that just 5 percent of consumers surveyed said they trust Temu, as compared with 87 percent who said the same about Amazon.
That trust could be paramount for brands and retailers with strong reputations, since the Consumer Confidence Index fell again in January. Greg Zakowicz, senior e-commerce expert at Omnisend, said large, trusted companies able to keep value at their core will likely continue to see growth as a result.
“It’s no surprise to me that consumer confidence has dropped, and I expect this to remain negative in 2025 as the government and economy transition into a new operating normal. The trend of consumers seeking value with their purchases, especially with increasing grocery prices, will continue, benefiting companies like Walmart and Amazon,” he said in a statement.
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