Shein says it swung to a quarterly loss as its sales slowed after US President Donald Trump removed an import duty exemption on small packages.

It also comes as uncertainty remains over the tit-for-tat US-China tariffs wars, which is currently paused.

The fast-fashion giant, which has its headquarters in Singapore but was founded in China, said it lost $99m (£74.1m) in the first three months of the year, compared with a net income of $395m a year earlier.

The announcement is part of the firm’s preparations ahead of its stock market debut in Hong Kong, although the filing did not give any details on the size, timetable or pricing of the planned initial public offering (IPO).

“In response to the increased duties and taxes, we are pursuing a wide range of options, including increasing our prices in the US market to offset a portion of the increased costs,” Shein said in the filing.

The company also said the Iran war had hit demand, increased costs and caused delays of deliveries in some markets.

The first-quarter figures also partly reflected a paper loss of $328m due to an accounting change for special investor shares. The shares can be turned into ordinary stock later, and their value can change before a listing.

The filing showed that in the year to the end of March 2026 Shein had 281 million active customers – a rise of more than 16% on a year earlier – who placed a total of more than one billion orders.

On 10 July, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) gave Shein approval for a Hong Kong share sale after failed attempts to list in New York and London.

The Hong Kong share listing is expected to take place in the coming months.

The figures show the impact of a Trump-signed executive order to end a global tariff exemption that had been used by US shoppers of low-cost goods.

That order, which came into effect on 29 August 2025, broadened an earlier presidential action which specifically targeted cheap products from China and Hong Kong to cover the rest of the world.

The so-called de minimis exemption had allowed goods valued at $800 or less to enter the US without paying any tariffs. US consumers relied on the exemption to buy cheap goods from online commerce sites like Shein and Temu.

The White House said the global exemption was being used to “evade tariffs and funnel deadly synthetic opioids” to the US.

“The removal of the US de minimis exemption has had an adverse impact on our sales in the US and the overall growth of our net revenues,” Shein said in the filing.

Earlier in July, the European Union imposed a €3 (£2.56; $3.42) levy on low-value e-commerce imports.

The measure is aimed to curb what the trading bloc has said is unfair competition from China.

Brent crude fell as much as 7.4% to below $90 a barrel, before paring losses as the US paused an almost two-week run of strikes against Iran. MSCI’s Asia Pacific equities gauge rose 0.4% and contracts for the Nasdaq 100 Index climbed 1.2% as sentiment improved after last week’s selloff in chip stocks.

The dollar, the haven of choice during the Middle East conflict, weakened against almost all of its Group-of-10 peers as tensions eased. Treasuries gained along with government bonds in Australia and New Zealand as inflation concerns receded. Gold led precious metals higher.

Read more: August Rush: Over 2 dozen companies plan Street debut next month

“A resolution to the conflict would be a positive development,” said Shoji Hirakawa, chief global strategist at Tokai Tokyo Intelligence Lab. The pause in attacks raises “hopes that the two sides will enter negotiations.”

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The lull in hostilities sets the tone for a pivotal week in markets, with traders focused on whether the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates on Wednesday after the recent surge in oil prices fueled inflation concerns. Investors are also awaiting earnings from megacap technology companies after a recent backlash against heavy spending on artificial intelligence.
After striking Iran for 13 days, the US has apparently held off since late Friday without explanation, raising questions about President Donald Trump’s next move. Iran’s army said Sunday that Tehran had also suspended its military response. The pause came as Iranian and Omani officials held talks over shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, raising hopes that the key oil transit route may avoid further disruption.

Tensions in the Middle East had sent oil prices soaring in July, overshadowing a tamer-than-expected reading on June consumer prices that seemed to offer officials breathing room to keep rates stable. Add to that a demand boom fueled by AI and the Trump administration’s announcements of new tariffs, and Fed watchers see the possibility of dissents at the July 28-29 meeting if officials again leave policy unchanged.

“We think the Fed will probably not hike,” Krishna Guha, head of central bank strategy at Evercore ISI, wrote in a note. “But we cannot take the probability too low given Warsh’s refusal to set out his strategy,” he said, referring to the new Fed chair Kevin Warsh.

Three days of Group-of-Seven central bank decisions begin with the Fed on Wednesday, followed by the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan. While no changes are expected in interest rate policy, officials are likely to emphasize vigilance over the inflationary impact of higher energy prices.

Elsewhere, the Singapore dollar strengthened against the US currency after officials further tightened monetary policy. The Monetary Authority of Singapore, which uses the exchange rate as its main policy tool rather than interest rates, raised the rate of appreciation of its policy band “very slightly,” it said. It left the width and center unchanged.

In other corners of the market, the yield on the Treasury 10-year fell five basis points to 4.63%. Non-interest-bearing gold climbed over 1% to $4,100 an ounce. The yen strengthened to about 163.60 per dollar.

Another key focus for markets will be earnings from megacap technology companies after a recent round of selloff in AI stocks rekindled doubts over whether billions of dollars being poured into infrastructure will generate commensurate returns. The selloff showed how much the narrative around AI and the Magnificent Seven tech behemoths has shifted.

This change makes for a tough setup heading into this week, with earnings from Microsoft Corp. and Meta Platforms due on Wednesday, followed by Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. on Thursday.

“That is shaping up as the major clearing event for the month,” said Billy Leung, an investment strategist at Global X Management. “The market has been punishing AI capex guidance all July even when the underlying numbers beat, so the read-through from these three on spending trajectory and monetisation will do more to set direction than anything in today’s session.”

Abstract

Southeast Asia faces growing US-China rivalry reminiscent of pre-WWI tensions. ASEAN’s traditional diplomatic balancing act is under strain as both superpowers pressure the region. Malaysia and Southeast Asia must build collective strategic weight beyond polite neutrality to avoid becoming casualties of great-power conflict.

Key Points

• An ancient Southeast Asian instinct of careful navigation resurfaces as US-China rivalry intensifies, mirroring dangerous pre-WWI patterns of declining hegemony, rising challengers, territorial disputes, and nationalist tensions that threaten regional stability.

• ASEAN’s decades-long diplomatic balancing act — absorbing American security, Chinese trade, and multiple powers’ investments — faces unprecedented strain as both superpowers pressure the region to align with their competing visions of world order.

• Southeast Asia, particularly Malaysia, has become a critical geopolitical hinge in the technology and supply chain war, making passive neutrality increasingly untenable as great-power competition penetrates the region’s economic infrastructure.

The Return of Great-Power Rivalry

Southeast Asia faces a world that smells dangerously like 1914. History is repeating its familiar patterns: a declining hegemon, a rising challenger, territorial disputes, naval build-ups, and nationalist fever amplified by new technologies. Author Odd Arne Westad’s The Coming Storm serves as a critical warning that the region must heed. If America and China stumble into conflict, Asean’s 684 million people and US$3.84 trillion in global trade will not be spectators — they will be the table. The challenge is no longer simply avoiding a choice between Washington and Beijing, but building enough collective resilience that neither superpower can treat Southeast Asia merely as terrain.

Asean’s Diplomatic Balancing Act Under Strain

For decades, Southeast Asia performed a remarkable feat of strategic improvisation, absorbing American security, Chinese trade, Japanese capital, and European markets while transforming swamps into ports and fishing villages into industrial hubs. This wasn’t cowardice — it was survival. However, Washington now speaks through export controls, tariffs, and technology denial, while Beijing leverages coastguard vessels, artificial islands, and infrastructure loans. Both superpowers publicly respect Asean’s autonomy while privately preferring it exercised in their favour. The region’s famously consensus-driven, carefully worded diplomacy — once its greatest strength — is buckling under the pressure of a fundamentally harsher geopolitical reality.

Malaysia’s Precarious Position at the Crossroads

Malaysia sits almost perfectly inside this great-power contradiction. Facing the strategically vital Strait of Malacca and deeply embedded in both Chinese commerce and American technology supply chains, Malaysia cannot afford complacency. Penang alone, as a critical global semiconductor hub, has become part of the nervous system of 21st-century geopolitical competition. Modern rivalries are no longer fought only on battlefields — they play out through customs forms, export permits, sanctions lists, and undersea cables. As Southeast Asia becomes the world’s favourite supply-chain workaround, it simultaneously becomes the place where both powers test each other’s limits. The elephants are moving. The question is no longer whether the storm can be avoided — but where the lightning strikes first.

Source : Opinion: The table, not the audience — Asean and the coming US-China collision

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