The Information Technology & Innovation Fund (ITIF) has called on the office of U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Ambassador Jamieson Greer to include Shein, Temu and AliExpress on this year’s Notorious Markets List (NML) for Counterfeiting and Piracy.
The USTR’s office opened the public comment period for the NML last week. According to the USTR website, the NML “highlights online and physical markets that reportedly engage in or facilitate substantial trademark counterfeiting or copyright piracy.”
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ITIF contended that Temu, Shein and AliExpress meet that description. The non-profit said that it ordered 51 products from the three marketplaces and found 24 of those products to be “likely counterfeits.” The products examined ranged across consumer categories, including apparel, luxury goods and toys. Of the 24 products thought to be counterfeits, 14 came from AliExpress, one came from Shein and nine came from Temu.
Eli Clemens, an ITIF policy analyst and the author of the report, said the companies need to be more closely watched to protect American consumers.
“The proliferation of counterfeits on Temu, AliExpress, and Shein is more than a series of isolated mistakes. It reflects a fundamental failure by these platforms to prioritize anti-counterfeiting efforts, leading to poor outcomes for brands and consumers alike,” Clemens said in a statement. “Counterfeit products are not only bad for the economy, but they also pose potential safety risks to consumers.”
According to ITIF, the suspected counterfeits used intellectual property from brands like Ralph Lauren, New Balance, Carolina Herrera, Brooks and Nike, among others.
The full report from the ITIF stated that the organization believes Temu, Shein and AliExpress have varying problems when it comes to enforcement of intellectual property rights.
While just one Shein product was a suspected counterfeit, the trade organization still took issue with the company’s approach toward intellectual property.
“IP infringement on Shein remains a live issue in the form of unauthorized reproduction of creative works by independent designers,” the trade organization wrote in the report. “These cases often avoid brand names and logos entirely, making them harder to detect with automated tools and more burdensome for individual rights holders to challenge.”
Shein has faced multiple lawsuits alleging that it has ripped off artists’ and companies’ proprietary designs.
As far as AliExpress is concerned, the ITIF contended that counterfeits on the marketplace are more blatant.
“AliExpress appears to host vendors that misuse brand trademarks across multiple product types, particularly in low-cost categories such as accessories, toys and shoes. Likely counterfeits purchased on AliExpress often appear crude, with unauthorized use of brand names and logos applied to goods that the legitimate rights holder does not produce, or products with inferior quality than would be expected from the original manufacturer,” the ITIF said.
Temu, meanwhile, allegedly offers what the ITIF called “highly deceptive” counterfeits.
“These goods often bear barcodes, certification marks, or manufacturer references that appear authentic. This makes Temu counterfeits more difficult for consumers to spot while browsing, and more difficult to determine are counterfeit upon receipt of the goods. Taken as a whole, potential counterfeit vendors on Temu appear to have a strategy aimed at selling counterfeit goods as legitimate-looking products to maintain customer trust while still profiting from infringing sales,” the ITIF wrote.
The 2024 NML, released in January ahead of the new administration, included Pinduoduo, which is also owned by Temu’s parent company, PDD Holdings. Temu did not see any mention on the list. Former USTR Katherine Tai indicated upon release of the 2024 report that the government has continued to track the growth of China-headquartered marketplaces. Douyin Mall, owned by TikTok parent ByteDance made the list, alongside Taobao, DHGate and others.
U.S. politicians have long harbored concerns about Shein and Temu’s purported links to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), in part because both are China-founded businesses. Shein is currently headquartered in Singapore, though reportedly, the company is actively considering a move back to China to align with its aspirations for an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong. Temu is currently headquartered in Boston, though its parent company PDD Holdings is based in Dublin.
AliExpress, owned by Alibaba Group, remains the only company of the three headquartered in China. The company saw inclusion on the 2021 and 2022 NMLs. ITIF said it remains unclear what prompted the company’s removal from the list in 2023.
Shein, Temu and AliExpress did not immediately return Sourcing Journal’s request for comment on the ITIF’s assertions.
In addition to calling on the USTR to add the three companies to the 2025 NML, the ITIF has recommended some policy actions. It has stated it believes that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) should leverage artificial intelligence for identifying counterfeit products. The ITIF said it believes the automated nature of AI systems could help scale up enforcement, while also preempting some counterfeits from being sold.
Additionally, it suggested that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) establish a “Foreign Counterfeit Complaint Center” (FC3), which would draw inspiration from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Internet Crime Complaint Center. The FC3 would give consumers a way to report potential counterfeits to the government while simultaneously offering a way for the agency to track patterns and compile evidence against companies and marketplaces as necessary.
Part of the reason for these additional recommendations, the ITIF said, is that CBP failed to stop potential counterfeits from entering the U.S. The ITIF noted that the agency detained four suspected counterfeit products from AliExpress but ultimately released them. The non-profit said more oversight could help other counterfeits from entering the country in the future.
“Addressing the counterfeit trade requires sustained U.S. action to recalibrate platform and vendor behavior through regulatory, trade, and technological measures,” Clemens said in a statement. “Holding foreign e-commerce platforms to the same standards as domestic ones is essential to protecting consumers, fostering innovation and safeguarding the integrity of global markets.”
