The UK government is exploring ending a scheme used by online retailers to send low-value consignments to Britain free of tariffs, as it readies for a flood of cheap imports following Donald Trump’s trade war with Beijing.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves on Wednesday announced a review of the Low Value Import scheme, which allows £135 worth of goods to be brought into the country without customs duties, after warnings from retailers including Next, Currys and J Sainsbury about the risk from cheap Chinese imports.
“Retailers can see through the actions we have taken today around low value imports that we are absolutely standing up for the British high street against the dumping of cheap imports of products that undercut British retailers,” Reeves said on the sidelines of the annual IMF and World Bank spring meetings in Washington.