Currys boss warns of Chinese ‘dumping’ following Trump tariffs

Currys boss Alex Baldock has raised concerns about Chinese products flooding the UK and European markets via platforms such as Amazon, Temu and Shein following higher tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump.

The chief executive told The Financial Times that there were early signs of “stock being diverted into European markets in a straightforward dumping way”.

He said: “The single biggest area where lots of stock is likely to land in the UK — at least in my world — is from the likes of Shein, Temu, Alibaba, TikTok shop, and most of all, Amazon marketplace, [which have a lot of Chinese vendors].”

Buy It Direct chief executive Nick Glynne added: “The long-term threat with the tariff crisis is…the mass movement of Chinese factories selling directly to consumers either via marketplaces such as Temu and eBay or websites such as Shein.

“The numbers are already huge and all that’s going to happen is that it will accelerate, accelerate and accelerate.”

Both Baldock and Glynne raised safety concerns around certain products and criticised “tax dodging” by some Chinese factories that sold in online marketplaces, even if the influx of products might lead to lower prices for consumers in the UK.

Glynne noted that large items such as fridges or washing machines, with certain voltage specifications, “can’t simply [be] diverted” to the UK if they were meant for the US.

Baldock added that with the US having closed the import duty for low-value imports and the EU following suit, “it’s all the more vital the UK isn’t left behind, so we’re not the only ones flooded with unsafe and tax-dodging products”.

The Currys boss said the retailer had been able to secure “four, five times” the usual volume of some products where supply is normally restricted due to the chaos caused by the tariffs.

“There are some scarce products [in gaming] that we wanted bigger allocations of than anyone could provide and suddenly we’re getting them because the stuff that was heading towards the US is now available,” he said.

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