I went to the Maldives. Everyone wanted to talk about Temu

One evening in the Maldives, I spent a few hours talking with local entrepreneurs. I expected to hear about tourism, politics, or the economy. Instead, they kept talking about Temu.

Not artificial intelligence. Not semiconductors. Not even TikTok. Temu.

The Chinese shopping app has become so popular in the Maldives, they told me, that it has changed how people buy everyday goods.

Last year, the Bank of Maldives imposed a 30% surcharge on purchases from a group of popular international e-commerce platforms, including China’s Temu, Shein, Alibaba, and AliExpress, as well as U.S.-based eBay. The bank argued that online shopping, which accounted for 75% of foreign purchases made by its customers at the time, was worsening the country’s foreign-currency shortage.

Temu was so popular in the country that local media called this surcharge a “Temu tax.”