Monday’s NBC Nightly News leapt into bed with the Chinese Communist Party in its trade war versus President Trump, openly griping about the price increases at Chinese-owned shopping apps Temu and Shein that have spent years dumping wildly cheap clothes and goods into the U.S. economy. Senior business correspondent Christine Romans even went to an actual communist China app — TikTok — to find users melting down over it.
“Turning now to that trade war with China. Massive online marketplaces sheen and Temu are hugely popular for their low prices, but new trade realities mean those prices are now going up,” anchor Lester Holt began.
Romans went negative immediately: “This three-pack of men’s athletic shorts went from $23 to $56. After retailer Temu added a more than $32 import charge into the shopping cart.”
This was followed by a TikTok user complaining about the surges in pricing with one fretting “[m]y $18 free shipping Temu order that I tried to place last night had a $27 import charge” and another whining, “has anyone looked at their [Shein] cart this morning.”
Before the rest of the two-minute-and-eight-second piece zoomed out to global trade negotiations more broadly, Romans blamed the rising costs on Trump’s tariffs, painting him as a bad guy preventing Americans from seeking deals:
Both posting nearly identical notices to customers blaming, “recent changes in trade rules and tariffs.” After the Trump administration closed a loophole that allowed duty free shipments directly to U.S. households they’ll now carry a 120 percent tariff or $100 shipping fee, rising to $200 in June. These products, so cheap even with these higher costs, many of them are still less expensive than U.S.-made goods. It’s an early look at how the U.S./China trade war will bring border taxes to American bottom lines. President Trump says the two sides are negotiating, and the Treasury secretary today said the next move is China’s.
A partisan journalist, Romans never mentioned why these shopping apps are so cheap. Last year, the great Danielle Butcher Franz wrote for our friends at the Washington Examiner about why “tragically, people are buying what Temu is selling” and was 2023’s “top free app in the United States” with “30% of packages that entered the U.S. in 2022 were from either” company.
Spoiler alert: It has to do with slave labor (click “expand”):
The allure of cheap clothes blinds many to the environmental toll: excessive water usage, toxic dyes, microplastics, and mountains of discarded textiles. The fashion industry is responsible for approximately 10% of global carbon emissions, with textile dyeing being the second largest polluter of clean water globally.
All of this is a high price to pay for products that end up in landfills just as quickly as they end up in our shopping carts. Beyond the visible environmental impact lies another hidden health danger: chemicals. Reports reveal elevated levels of lead, PFAS, and phthalates in fast fashion items. Temu’s products, like those of its peers, harbor these toxins.
(....)
With Temu touting such low prices, some may wonder how the company could even afford $15 million in Super Bowl spots. The answer is as simple as it is evil: forced labor.
While Temu has dismissed concerns that it uses forced or child labor, there’s evidence that its operations in the Xinjiang region of China take advantage of the oppressed Uyghur minority. With no mechanism to ensure compliance with the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, Temu’s parent company, PDD Holdings, dances on the edge of compliance, relying on a dubious system to monitor suppliers.
Although less important than the human rights violations, the shopping experience that Temu promises also doesn’t actually exist. A 2022 Time article showed Temu has been reported to the Better Business Bureau 30 times for incorrect products, canceled orders, and delayed shipping.
In April of last year, National Review wrote that Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) urged the Biden administration to “open an investigation into Temu” because, in Cotton’s words, Temu “is a pipeline of dumped, counterfeit, and slave-labor products from China that is also gathering massive quantities of Americans’ personal data.”
Back on January 8 of this year, the Hudson Institute’s Michael Soboliok urged congressional action as “Temu and Shein are injecting slave-labor goods into the United States, circumventing U.S. law in the process.”
President Trump took direct action against these companies during his so-called “Liberation Day” rollout on April 2. Our friends at the Daily Caller explained what Romans had alluded to about Trump closing a “loophole,” saying “[t]he de minimis loophole...shielded companies from import duties on certain packages valued at $800 or less.”
When it comes to Trump bashing, never put it past the liberal media to put America last under the guise of cheap goods, no matter how lackluster they might be.
To see the relevant NBC transcript from April 28, click “expand.”
NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt
April 28, 2025
6:30 a.m. [TEASE][ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Breaking News; Trump Digs in on Immigration, Economy as Polls Fall]
LESTER HOLT: It comes as polling falls and his handling of the economy and tariffs, and as shoppers see prices rise and rise on some major online marketplaces.
(....)
6:42 p.m. Eastern
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Breaking News; Tariff Impacts on Temu and Shein]
HOLT: Turning now to that trade war with China. Massive online marketplaces sheen and Temu are hugely popular for their low prices, but new trade realities mean those prices are now going up. Here’s Christine Romans.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Breaking News Temu and Shein Hike Prices After Tariffs on China]
CHRISTINE ROMANS: This three-pack of men’s athletic shorts went from $23 to $56. After retailer Temu added a more than $32 import charge into the shopping cart.
TIKTOK USER “AUBEEEEEEEEEY”: My $18 free shipping Temu order that I tried to place last night had a $27 import charge.
ROMANS: Over at Shein, prices rising too.
TIKTOK USER “MASSANGESHOME”: Has anyone looked at their cart this morning?
ROMANS: Both posting nearly identical notices to customers blaming, “recent changes in trade rules and tariffs.” After the Trump administration closed a loophole that allowed duty free shipments directly to U.S. households they’ll now carry a 120 percent tariff or $100 shipping fee, rising to $200 in June. These products, so cheap even with these higher costs, many of them are still less expensive than U.S.-made goods. It’s an early look at how the U.S./China trade war will bring border taxes to American bottom lines. President Trump says the two sides are negotiating, and the Treasury secretary today said the next move is China’s.
TREASURY SECRETARY SCOTT BESSENT [on CNBC’s Squawk Box, 04/28/25]: It’s up to China to de-escalate because they sell five times more to us than we sell to them and so, these 125, 145 percent tariffs are unsustainable.
ROMANS: A Chinese official disputing the White House account, saying “China and the U.S. Have not conducted consultations or negotiations on the tariffs issue.”
HOLT: And Christine, where do we stand right now on negotiations?
ROMANS: Well, the Treasury secretary today suggested progress with India in negotiating a new trade deal, but a reminder here, frankly, that sometimes it can take a couple years to make a deal, and there’s just 72 days left in the President’s pause on all the extra tariffs on so many countries, Lester.
HOLT: Alright, Christine, thanks much.
