Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is urging the UK Chancellor to fully investigate Chinese fast-fashion company Shein before allowing it to be listed on the London Stock Exchange.
“Slave labor, sweatshops, and trade tricks are the dirty secrets behind Shein’s success,” Mr. Rubio wrote. “I trust you will treat these allegations against Shein with the utmost seriousness, investigate them fully, and take appropriate action to protect investors.
” Shein is a fast-fashion online retailer that directly ships products to customers at significantly low prices. It relies on thousands of suppliers in the textile hub of China’s Guangdong Province. The committee said Shein and another Chinese fast fashion retailer, Temu, likely represented over 30 percent of all de minimis shipments to the United States in 2022.
The investigation also found that nearly half of all shipments to the United States under the de minimis provision likely originated from China. Shein also benefits from European Union tariff rules that allow customers to order parcels worth less than 150 euros (about $170) from overseas online retailers without paying import tax. “The United States and the United Kingdom have many honest businesses that employ workers, import clothing from reputable manufacturers, and pay taxes accordingly.
Shein’s dishonest business threatens honest businesses everywhere,” Mr. Rubio wrote in his letter to Mr. Hunt.
Lord Alton also said that allowing Shein to list on the London Stock Ex.
