France is urging the EU to increase customs duties on small packages two years earlier than planned, expanding its campaign against Chinese retailers as it tangles with e-commerce giant Shein (希音).
“I really hope that tomorrow we can make progress on this subject,” French Minister of Economics, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty Roland Lescure said on Wednesday before a meeting with his EU peers, adding that he wanted the increase to go into effect “as soon as possible in 2026, I hope even at the start of 2026.”
France and other EU countries are concerned that an influx of small e-commerce packages from China might undermine local businesses and are discussing ways to raise shipping costs on the items.
Photo: AFP
EU finance ministers are aiming to approve a proposal that would end a customs duty exemption for all parcels under 150 euros (US$174.32), a change that would heavily affect Chinese retailers. France is rushing to inject a last-minute revision that would move up the timing on the repeal, currently slated for 2028.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, proposed erasing the exemption as part of a broader plan to modernize its custom system, but China has become an increasingly urgent concern during those discussions.
Between 2023 and last year, the number of e-commerce packages from China worth less than 150 euros more than doubled, from 1.9 billion to 4.2 billion, EU data showed.
That accounted for 91 percent of all such packages entering the EU last year.
In the past few days, France has also specifically targeted Chinese fast-fashion retailer Shein after complaints the company was selling childlike sex dolls and weapons on its Web site.
France forced the company to halt some online sales in the country, and is pressing the EU to investigate.
Accelerating higher parcel duties should be EU finance ministers’ focus, a French finance ministry official said.
While technical issues might prevent the EU from fully shifting the timeline, officials are exploring temporary solutions that would allow them to quickly increase package duties while the full customs regime is being implemented, a draft statement seen by Bloomberg News said.
“This is the signal that we don’t want Chinese junk, that we protect our markets,” German Minister of Finance Lars Klingbeil said ahead of the EU finance ministers’ meeting. “I want this as quickly as possible.”
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