Cotton to Bondi: Investigate Chinese Companies Shein and Temu

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Patrick McCann (202) 224-2353
December 1, 2025

Cotton to Bondi: Investigate Chinese Companies Shein and Temu

Washington, D.C. - Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) today sent a letter to Attorney General Bondi urging action against Shein and Temu warehouses located in the United States. These Chinese communist retail platforms systematically engage in industrial-scale IP theft and counterfeiting against American designers, brands, and innovators.

In part, Senator Cotton wrote:

"I urge you to prioritize Shein and Temu facilities for immediate inspections, seizures, and criminal investigations. The Department of Justice can no longer allow the continued theft of American property on our soil. This enforcement action would send a strong message: the United States will no longer tolerate Chinese platforms looting American intellectual property."

Full text of the letter may be found here and below.

December 1, 2025

The Honorable Pam Bondi
Attorney General of the United States
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530

Dear Attorney General Bondi:

I write regarding the continuing flood of counterfeit goods and stolen American intellectual property facilitated by the Chinese communist retail platforms Shein and Temu. These companies are engaged in industrial-scale IP theft and counterfeiting that is devastating American designers, brands, and innovators.

A recent Information Technology and Innovation Foundation investigation conducted test purchases from Shein and Temu and found that nearly half of the items were likely counterfeits, with Temu hosting particularly sophisticated and deceptive fakes while Shein continues to enable widespread copyright infringement of American designs. Independent artists and small U.S. clothing brands report that Shein systematically copies their original work, often within days of launch, and sells the knockoffs at a fraction of the price. American clothing brands, numerous graphic designers, and dozens of other American creators have been forced to sue Shein this year alone for brazen design theft.

President Trump's decisive closure of the de minimis loophole has forced Shein and Temu to change their business model. Instead of millions of small, uninspected packages arriving daily from China, these companies now stock massive inventories in U.S. warehouses and distribution centers. Their goods are no longer slipping through ports. They are sitting on American soil under U.S. jurisdiction.

This shift gives the Department of Justice and Homeland Security Investigations a golden opportunity to act. Law enforcement already routinely raids warehouses that traffic in counterfeit goods. I urge you to prioritize Shein and Temu facilities for immediate inspections, seizures, and criminal investigations. The Department of Justice can no longer allow the continued theft of American property on our soil. This enforcement action would send a strong message: the United States will no longer tolerate Chinese platforms looting American intellectual property.

Sincerely,

Tom Cotton
United States Senator

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