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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.
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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.
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.