Trump 2.0 is launched. What impact will the cross-border e-commerce industry have?

At noon on the 20th, Eastern Time, Trump was sworn in as the 47th President of the United States in the Rotunda of the Capitol in Washington. Afterwards, Trump delivered his inaugural speech.

Trump 2.0 is online, expanding territory and establishing a foreign tax bureau

Trump said the US government is facing a crisis of trust. For many years, radical and corrupt vested interest groups have seized power and wealth from American citizens, and American society has become broken and "almost hopeless." The US government is unable to even deal with simple domestic crises, and while providing a steady stream of military aid to foreign countries, it is unable to provide shelter for its own people.

At the same time, Trump announced that he would sign a series of executive orders, including:

Economists have warned that if Trump imposes additional tariffs, consumers could be the first to bear the brunt of the full tariffs, leading to higher prices and a return of inflation.

Revoke nearly 80 executive orders of Biden and start "withdrawing from the group"

On January 20, local time, US President Trump signed a series of executive orders, including that the United States will withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change; and announced that the United States will withdraw from the World Health Organization.

On July 6, 2020, the United States officially notified UN Secretary-General Guterres that the United States would withdraw from the WHO on July 6, 2021. This move has drawn strong criticism from the international community and the United States. In 2021, Biden announced on his first day in office as US President that the United States would stop withdrawing from the WHO.

In 2015, the United Nations Climate Change Conference reached the Paris Agreement, which became an important achievement in the global response to climate change. In June 2017, then-US President Trump announced that the United States would withdraw from the Paris Agreement. On November 4, 2020, the United States officially withdrew from the agreement. This move was widely criticized by the United States and the international community.

On January 20, 2021, Biden signed an executive order on his first day as president, announcing that the United States would rejoin the Paris Agreement. On February 19 of the same year, the United States officially rejoined the Paris Agreement.

Trump revoked nearly 80 executive orders of the Biden administration, implemented a federal regulatory freeze to control the bureaucracy, fired some unqualified federal officials and suspended the hiring of new employees for the IRS, required full-time federal staff to return to the office to work on-site, increased oil and gas production to reduce energy costs, ended the federal government's censorship of citizens' speech, and rescinded the decision to remove Cuba from the list of "country sponsors of terrorism" during Biden's administration.

TikTok is given a 75-day grace period to "ban it if it doesn't sell"

Trump signed an executive order on the 20th local time, requiring that the "if you don't sell it, you'll be banned" law on the short video social media platform TikTok will not be enforced in the next 75 days.

Trump said in the executive order that he plans to discuss solutions to the TikTok issue with the heads of relevant U.S. government departments. During the 75-day grace period, the U.S. Department of Justice may not take any enforcement action based on the "no sell or ban" law, nor may it punish any entity that fails to comply with the law.

On January 19th local time, TikTok issued a statement on the social media platform X saying that it was resuming services to American users and would work with Trump to develop a long-term solution to allow TikTok to continue to "stay in the United States."

Cross-border e-commerce industry faces new challenges

The North American market has been an important stop for China's cross-border e-commerce to go overseas in recent years.

In the distribution of China's cross-border e-commerce overseas markets, North America accounts for 39%, ranking first. The North American e-commerce market is about three times the size of the EU and still has a high growth rate. In recent years, cross-border e-commerce platforms Temu, TikTok Shop, and SHEIN have all invested in the North American market, which has also driven many brands and merchants to go overseas.

After Trump was elected, the tariff policy he repeatedly emphasized on cross-border sellers’ costs and the difficulty of entering the US market deserves attention. In addition, we also need to pay attention to the impact of exchange rate changes on cross-border e-commerce. In addition to the above risks, whether the US government will introduce new regulations on taxation, privacy, intellectual property rights, trade barriers, etc. for cross-border e-commerce is also a potential risk for the development of cross-border e-commerce.

The tariff increase may also put pressure on some cross-border merchants. For example, Vietnam's furniture manufacturing industry is developing rapidly. If high tariffs are imposed on Chinese goods, it may be greatly affected. In view of the industry changes that may be brought about by the US election, merchants and enterprises should pay more attention to the domestic consumer market and shift their attention to the domestic market. In the overseas market, they should pay attention to improving the technical and brand advantages of their products. The past cross-border e-commerce model of low prices and high volume will be difficult to continue in the future.

Faced with the uncertainty of the US tariff policy, foreign trade companies and cross-border sellers are currently taking two main countermeasures. One is to accelerate the layout of overseas production capacity and supply chain, such as establishing production bases in Singapore, Vietnam and other places; the other is to ensure compliance in finance, taxation, intellectual property rights and other aspects in advance. Because in addition to tariffs, whether the Trump administration will introduce new regulations or restrictions on taxation, privacy, intellectual property rights, trade barriers and other aspects in the future is also a potential risk for the development of cross-border e-commerce.

However, many cross-border sellers are optimistic. "From the perspective of businessmen, we will naturally choose the best thing that is profitable. The Chinese supply chain is the best solution."

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