In April 2026, many major events occurred in the cross-border e-commerce industry, which had a profound impact on global cross-border trade.
First of all, the “low-price direct mail” bonus of cross-border e-commerce has ended.
The U.S. government prematurely terminated the tax-free treatment for imported packages under $800 on April 12, and the T86 customs clearance channel was officially closed on May 2. The Trump administration imposed additional tariffs of up to 245% on Chinese goods on April 15.
Temu, SHEIN, and Amazon all raised the prices of products in the United States in April.
Some categories of Temu directly doubled or even increased in price by up to 91% in the following three days. The prices of nearly 1,000 products on the Amazon platform were simultaneously increased, involving clothing, home furnishings, electronics and other categories.
From mid-April to the end of April, the real transaction cost increase for U.S. sellers ranged from 15% to 35%, and the increase in consumer prices ranged from 10% to 91%.
After the closure of the T86 channel, originally tax-free packages were required to pay full tariffs, and the tariff expenditures of some cross-border sellers increased significantly, directly eroding the platform’s previous price advantage.
Secondly, the Coupang data leak triggered a diplomatic split between South Korea and the United States.
On April 28, 96 South Korean congressmen jointly sent a letter of protest to the US Embassy in South Korea, condemning 54 Republican members of the US House of Representatives for putting pressure on the South Korean government over the Coupang data leak case.
Coupang suffered a large-scale data breach in November 2025. Chairman Kim Beom-seok refused to attend the South Korean Congress hearing, and Coupang doubled its lobbying expenditures in Washington in the first quarter of 2026, intensifying domestic public dissatisfaction and dissatisfaction among lawmakers in South Korea.
This incident has affected the progress of future defense cooperation between the United States and South Korea, and has also served as a warning to foreign trade companies operating in South Korea. Overseas companies must pay attention to compliance obligations such as product safety, information leakage, and data sovereignty.
Furthermore, Amazon sellers have encountered multiple strangleholds on profits and policies.
Platform policy adjustments have brought many pressures, such as extended payment cycles, FBA fuel surcharge adjustments, new advertising deduction policies, etc., resulting in reduced sellers’ capital turnover efficiency and increased logistics costs.
The total number of Amazon sellers fell, with new seller registrations at their lowest level since 2015.
In addition, there are two key deadlines on April 30. The new labeling regulations of the Transparency Transparency Plan are strictly implemented, and FBA overage inventory is forced to be removed.
The rules of Prime Day in 2026 have also undergone major changes, and a “prepayment of deposit + commission” payment mechanism will be implemented.
At the same time, Amazon will invest more than 100 million euros to restart the construction of a large logistics center in Zaragoza Province, Spain.
Temu and SHEIN bid farewell to low-price direct mail, and officially implemented phased price increases on the US site on April 25. The price increases of some categories far exceeded expectations.
After Temu cut its US advertising by 30% in advance, downloads plummeted by 60%.
The “semi-managed model” launched by Temu shares some product supplies with TikTok Shop, and the cost competition revolves around tariff passing.
In Poland, Temu has become the most visited e-commerce platform.
TikTok Shop is facing Temuization pressure, and Indonesia’s antitrust investigation continues.
On April 27, the Indonesian E-commerce Logistics Association accused TikTok and TikTok Shop of suspected monopoly, and the platform is in the preliminary document review period.
At the same time, the countdown to preparations for the opening of TikTok Shop in Poland, the Netherlands, and Belgium will become an important annual window for external expansion in Europe.
Industry sellers are gradually diversifying risks, reducing their dependence on Amazon, and expanding into new channels such as TikTok Shop.
Finally, with the implementation of the new domestic fiscal and taxation laws and regulations, cross-border e-commerce finance and taxation have entered the first year of strict control under the “fourth phase of golden tax + platform direct connection”.
From 2026, cross-border e-commerce corporate income tax will be fully mandatory and enter the audit and collection mode. The fourth phase of the Golden Tax will integrate information from various aspects. The new electronic invoice and new regulations will realize real-time automatic comparison of “receipt and invoicing”, and each platform will directly report order-level API interface data.
Sellers need to follow the “Four Returns” system and conduct reasonable tax planning.
Taken together, cross-border e-commerce sellers should adjust their strategies in a timely manner according to industry changes, cope with various challenges, and seize development opportunities.
