On April 4, 2026, the cross-border e-commerce industry showed many major developments.
Geographical conflicts have pushed up oil prices, and Amazon has imposed a 3.5% fuel surcharge; Temu and SHEIN officially announced on April 25 that they will raise their prices in the United States to cope with tariffs; Pinduoduo launched the “New Pinmu” special project and invested 100 billion in three years to develop self-operated brands; the three departments met with Douyin, Taotian, and Xiaohongshu to strengthen import review; the new customs return policy across customs areas was implemented nationwide, and the State Administration of Taxation updated the export tax refund (exemption) management method, and industry compliance and cost control were comprehensively upgraded.
First, let’s look at the situation of Coupang.
Its logistics expansion in Taiwan has accelerated, and both orders and employment have picked up.
The fourth logistics center in Taoyuan was opened. AI + robot-powered “rocket distribution” covers 70% of the island, deeply exploring the central and southern markets. However, its growth segment (including Taiwan and other businesses) is expected to suffer high losses. This is due to heavy investment in the Taiwan market.
In terms of employment and orders, the number of employees increased by 600 month-on-month in February (the first increase in five months), and the number of weekly active users rebounded to 28.3 million. The problems of membership loss and employment reduction caused by previous data leaks have been alleviated.
At the same time, trade between China and South Korea is favorable, and China has become South Korea’s largest source of cross-border imports, accounting for nearly 60%; South Korean e-commerce competition has turned to membership rights, free shipping thresholds and AI shopping experience.
As for Amazon, there have been intensive adjustments to fees and stricter compliance on global sites.
Starting from April 17, FBA sellers in markets such as the United States and Canada will be required to pay a 3.5% fuel logistics surcharge, which will be expanded to “Buy with Prime” and other services in May. This is the result of soaring oil prices forcing cost pass-through.
Starting from April, French stations must submit MRN and EORI information for shipments entering France. Failure to do so will result in non-compliance.
Starting from April 22, a surcharge will be levied on the Japanese site for inventory exceeding 365 days, the delivery fee for small and medium-sized items will be reduced, and the commission for high-priced products will increase slightly.
Temu and Pinduoduo have made major moves.
“New Pinmu” has been launched. Pinduoduo has set up a special company with an initial investment of 15 billion yuan and a total investment of 100 billion yuan in three years. It will integrate the dual-platform supply chain and focus on self-operation of global brands to solve the shortcomings of Temu’s unbranded ecology and tariff pressure.
Temu and SHEIN simultaneously announced an increase in U.S. selling prices on April 25 to cope with rising costs caused by changes in trade rules and tariffs.
Adjustments to tax-free policies in the United States and Europe have severely hit Temu’s traffic and profits. Pinduoduo’s net profit in 2025 will fall by 12% year-on-year, mainly due to high investment in overseas logistics.
TikTok Shop has established a foothold in Europe, and global expansion is parallel to regulation.
The German market has a breakthrough in its first anniversary, covering 10.5% of the German online shopping population, ranking 24th among local e-commerce companies; Generation Z + Generation X contribute more than 60% of sales, short video live broadcast has become the core growth engine, and more European sites will be added in 2026.
However, due to the illegal marketing of imported health products, the three departments interviewed Douyin and other platforms and requested to strengthen the review of merchants and products. The flagship store of the brand involved has been closed.
In April, it implemented the “Metong-Mexico” model to open up U.S.-Mexico pallets to solve logistics pain points; it also applied for the “TikTok Drama” trademark to enter the micro-short drama market.
There are also important developments on other platforms.
In April, SHEIN closed the self-delivery function of some merchants in the United States and increased logistics assessment; it increased prices simultaneously with Temu, and 54% of British consumers supported restrictions on low-price imported goods.
Shopee will increase the first-leg rates for overseas warehouses in Malaysia and Thailand starting from April 7. Thailand will set up a price adjustment buffer period and introduce commission subsidies. New sellers in Vietnam will enjoy three-month commission exemption for three-way warehouses.
The new USPS regulations will take effect on April 1. Logistics inquiries must be bound to the shipper’s MID, and third-party tools must be authorized. The era of “instant tracking of order numbers” is over.
There are also new policies for domestic finance, taxation and customs.
Starting from April 1, 9610 export commodities can be returned to the nearest location across the country, reducing reverse logistics costs by 20% – 50%.
Announcement No. 5 of the State Administration of Taxation of 2026 updated the full process management of tax refund (exemption) and will be officially implemented from January 1.
Guangdong has launched version 2.0 of tax-assisted industries, which regulates four types of platforms including cross-border e-commerce in a differentiated manner to avoid “one size fits all”.
At the same time, the platform has implemented tax-related information reporting, and 8,000+ platforms have completed the reporting. Revenue from fraudulent orders cannot be excluded, and data inconsistency and false declarations have become core risk points.
From the perspective of trend analysis, tariff policies have restructured the cost system, and the tightening of duty-free policies in the United States and Europe has forced platforms and sellers to adjust prices and optimize market layout; the industry has shifted from traffic-driven to supply chain + brand-driven, and Pinduoduo’s self-operated layout of 100 billion has led the brand’s overseas upgrade; all-dimensional supervision has become stricter, and import compliance, tax compliance, and logistics compliance have become the bottom line of industry development; platform logistics have been intensively controlled, self-delivery authority has been narrowed, and combating false contract performance has become an industry consensus.
In terms of action suggestions, merchants should urgently calculate costs and profits, adjust pricing in advance to cope with the impact of Amazon surcharges and Temu/SHEIN price increases; deepen compliance operations, make good use of cross-customs area return policies, and ensure that tax declarations are consistent with platform data; seize opportunities for brands to go overseas, connect with platform industry belt incubation resources, and lay out long-term competitiveness; adapt to new logistics regulations, familiarize yourself with the platform’s official logistics system, and avoid the risk of interruption of contract performance.
