Argos boss urges Starmer to crack down on Chinese tax loophole

He said: “If there’s a loophole here, which means that’s not happening, past that needs to beryllium closed. If determination is simply a loophole there, which determination is today, we would powerfully advocator that it is faced into arsenic soon arsenic possible.”

It comes aft British retail chiefs warned earlier this week that much low-value packages would beryllium diverted to the UK aft Mr Trump’s medication closed a akin loophole successful the US.

The US president did truthful by signing an enforcement bid to extremity a taxation exemption for imported tiny packages worthy little than $800 (£605). The exemption had allowed online retailers to debar paying customs duties by shipping tiny orders straight to customers.

Shein has argued these rules person meant the institution could support prices affordable, saying: “We walk this vantage to our customers and this has driven our occurrence astir the world, not the exemptions that retailers person nether existent taxation regimes.”

Following the changes successful the US, the British Retail Consortium this week said precocious thoroughfare bosses were acrophobic that much banal could beryllium diverted to the UK.

It said: “Retailers are rightly acrophobic we volition spot much traders extracurricular the UK taking vantage of our de minimis regularisation to merchantability their displaced banal from the US, undercut home retailers and enactment user information astatine risk.”

Retailers which merchantability electrical goods and covering are expected to beryllium those astir affected. This includes Sainsbury’s Argos business, which sells appliances, homeware and technology.

Mr Roberts said the Government needed to marque definite it was a “level playing field” for retailers.

The comments came arsenic Sainsbury’s said profits were improbable to emergence this twelvemonth amid fierce contention betwixt supermarkets.

The institution said it was expecting retail underlying nett of astir £1bn for the existent fiscal year, compared to £1.04bn successful the twelvemonth to March 1.

Mr Roberts said: “We are committed, supra each else, to sustaining the beardown competitory presumption we person built – consistently giving customers the large worth they person travel to expect from Sainsbury’s – and we expect to proceed to outperform the market.”