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The European Commission has carried out raids at Temu to investigate whether the Chinese ecommerce group received unfair subsidies, amid a broader crackdown by the bloc against billions of cheap Chinese imports bought online.
The commission said it had “carried out an unannounced inspection at the premises of a company active in the ecommerce sector in the EU, under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation”, without naming the company involved.
European officials told the Financial Times that Temu was the company in question.
Temu did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
The bloc’s foreign subsidies regulation has been used a handful of times since it was introduced in 2023, mostly against Chinese companies amid growing concern that oversupply by the world’s largest manufacturer is jeopardising European industry.
The commission can impose wide-ranging remedies if it finds companies received any form of direct or indirect contribution from non-EU governments.
The probe into Temu, part of Chinese group PDD, comes amid a broader crackdown by the bloc on the flood of imports from China from online retailers that also include Shein.
Last year 4.6bn such items were imported, with 91 per cent coming from China, according to the commission. The EU is imposing customs fees on small packages from 2026 to help protect domestic retailers from unfair competition.
Temu is an online marketplace selling everything from mobile phones to clothes and confectionery at low prices. It has rapidly gained market share since launching in Europe in 2023, aided by aggressive digital marketing campaigns.
Its business model involves shipping individual orders from warehouses in China directly to consumers’ homes in the west, thereby avoiding import duties on its mostly low-value shipments.
Temu is also under European scrutiny under the commission’s landmark digital rules.
In July, Brussels accused the group of failing to do enough to prevent the sale of illegal products on its platform. That probe could lead to a fine of up to 6 per cent of its global annual revenue if it is found in breach of the legislation.
Several European lawmakers have been pushing the commission to go even further in its probes against Temu, Shein and AliExpress — especially since some of the companies have come under investigation by French authorities for selling childlike sex dolls.
China’s annual global trade surplus recently hit $1tn. French President Emmanuel Macron warned that China would face consequences if it did not rebalance its economy and buy more foreign goods in a visit to Beijing this month.
The raids were first reported by MLex.
Additional reporting by Peter Foster in London
