Please Follow us on Gab, Minds, Telegram, Rumble, GETTR, Truth Social, X , Youtube
The US ended a "de minimis" tariff exemption for packages from China and Hong Kong yesterday, which allowed duty-free entry for shipments of goods valued under $800. The so-called loophole was widely used by overseas online retailers, like Shein and Temu, to offer cheap products directly to American consumers.
The de minimis exemption has existed since 1938 (see history), with its threshold adjusted periodically over time. The most recent change came in 2016, when the limit was raised from $200 to $800, allowing more packages to qualify for the perk. With the exemption now gone, low-value packages from China and Hong Kong are subject to new tariffs, some as high as 145%. Prices on many imported goods are expected to rise, with retailers adding tariff surcharges or shifting their business models. Temu announced it has stopped shipping products from China and will only display products shipped from its US warehouses, reported 1440 Daily.
US Customs also faces the potential challenge of inspecting millions more packages, which could cause shipping delays. Roughly 1.36 billion shipments using the de minimis provision entered the US in fiscal year 2024, per federal data.
