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The response from Shein did not directly dispute the reporting. It outlined the company’s regulatory compliance policies and third-party auditing procedures, at times relying on nearly indecipherable jargon. It stated, for example, that Shein developed a “proprietary material traceability information management system,” to monitor its supply chains. (The letter was signed by Lin, not Xu, who maintains an exceedingly low profile. The Wall Street Journal has referred to him as “the world’s most anonymous CEO.”)
Greer’s work for a Chinese company appears at odds with the dark vision he has articulated of Beijing’s intentions to remake the global order and how it uses international trade to accomplish those ends. A month after Shein sent the letter to lawmakers, Greer testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the US-China trade relationship, telling lawmakers that China presented an “existential” threat to the US. Beijing seeks to “dominate global manufacturing and technology to secure CCP leverage and control over the global economy and foreign governments,” he said, referring to the Chinese Communist Party. Last year, he called for a raft of changes to the US trade relationship with China, including ending the de minimis provision.
De minimis, which allows for packages valued under $800 to enter the US duty-free and with limited oversight, exploded in popularity during the Covid pandemic. Customs and Border Protection processed approximately 4 million de minimis shipments a day in 2024, up from 2.8 million the previous year, the vast majority of which originated in China. Overall, the agency says de minimis shipments account for 92 percent of all cargo entering the country. Shein said in the 2023 letter to lawmakers that most of its packages enter the US under the provision.
Adam Savit, director of the China Policy Initiative at the America First Policy Institute think tank, likens Shein’s liberal use of de minimis to broader issues he sees with Beijing’s approach to trade. “The problem is China’s abuse of a global trade system that was built on the assumption that all players would abide by certain rules,” Savit says. For example, China does not extend the same de minimis benefits to the US. Trump “abhors lack of reciprocity, and the loophole is one of the most extreme examples,” Savit says.
Shein has already begun raising its prices in response to Trump’s trade policies. It is likely that shipping times will increase too, not just for Shein customers but for anyone purchasing low-cost goods from China. “Because the administration wants to discourage imports from China, you are going to pay duty, and it might take longer to get cleared,” says John Leonard, former deputy executive assistant commissioner at Customs and Border Protection. “It is the execution of a trade barrier.”
In January 2024, Shein brought on longtime retail lobbyist Kent Knutson, previously the head of Home Depot’s Washington operation, a hire that marked the start of the company’s more dramatic rightward turn. Three months later, financial disclosures show, Patel, now the FBI director, began working as a consultant for an entity in the Cayman Islands called Elite Depot—the parent organization of Shein. Patel’s deal with the ecommerce giant was structured in an unusual way: He was compensated for nine months of work with stock valued at between $1 million and $5 million.
