For years, American consumers have been able to spend next to nothing on the latest fashion trends, thanks in large part to Chinese clothing companies like Shein and Temu. These businesses have long used a loophole to send millions of packages a day into the U.S. from China tax-free.

Now, President Trump is closing that loophole, even as he de-escalates his larger trade war with China, and prices are going up.

Meaghan Tobin, who covers business and technology in Asia, discusses whether this might be the end for fast fashion.

Guest: Meaghan Tobin, a correspondent for The New York Times, covering business and technology in Asia.

Background reading

• Meaghan Tobin and Agnes Chang write about President Trump’s latest changes to taxes on small packages from China.
• Meaghan Tobin explains how a U.S. tax loophole supercharged China’s exports.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Photo: Qilai Shen for The New York Times

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