As competition heats up for consumers’ wallets, more businesses are looking at the surge in cross-border e-commerce and crying foul.

That cry has extended beyond the US and EU, and now includes most major consumer markets.  

The blame is falling on Shein, Temu and Aliexpress, whose rock bottom prices and scale are impossible for domestic players to beat.  

The core narrative is that these platforms are able to leverage cheap domestic labor at home, government subsidized postage and import loopholes in key consumer markets, to tip the playing field in their favor.  

The question is why do countries have de minimis, what changes might they make – and why?