Trump ends the tax exemption for low -value Chinese imports

By Anne d’Anocerzio and Didi Tang

An opinion to customers dazzled by low -cost products on Chinese shopping applications: days of obtaining fashionable clothes, tools and gaga gifts that cost less than the lunch delivered to your door in 10 days is probably numbered.

President Donald Trump puts an end to a little -known but widely used exemption which has enabled 4 million packs at low value – most of them in China – to arrive in the United States every day in tax franchise.

A decree that the president signed on Wednesday will eliminate the “minimis provision” of the goods of China and Hong Kong on May 2.

“Buyers had a full range of calendar products and options,” said Marshal Cohen, chief retail advisor of the Circana market research company. “Now they will have a limited range of options and timing: so that you can always buy this product, but you may have to wait three or four weeks.”

American politicians, law enforcement organizations and business groups have described long -standing policy as a commercial escape which has given an advantage of cheap Chinese goods and served as a portal for drugs and illicit counterfeits to enter the country.

The radical prices that Trump announced on Wednesday also aim to end with the exception of rights of rights for all goods imported worth less than $ 800, but only when the US government has the staff in place to treat packages from all countries.

What will be the effect on prices and shipping times?

An information sheet of the White House said that small packages of Chinese products sent via the international postal network will be subject to a rate of rights of 30% of their value or $ 25 per article, an amount that will increase to $ 50 per article after June 1.

Commercial carriers such as Fedex and UPS will be required to report the details of the expedition and put the appropriate tasks for customs and the protection of American borders, according to the White House. After the last series of Trump prices, the rate rate for Chinese products will be at least 54%.

Supporters of Minmimis’ exception have argued that its elimination would increase costs and harm consumers with low income and small businesses.

The tariff costs are threatening to take a blow for American business operations such as Shein and Temu, which quickly widened in the United States using the provision of Minmis to provide ultra-racked fast fashion items from China.

However, we do not know what impact the impact of the loss of tax exemption will have on the two online retailers, as well as on American companies like Amazon and Walmart, whose platforms include virtual markets where international sellers offer products.

Shein and Temu have already built warehouses in the United States so that they can get orders for American buyers faster. Shein recently opened a development and logistics center in the Seattle region. None of the companies could be joined to comment on Thursday.

Ram Ben Tzion, chief executive officer of the public digital verification platform, said that he expected companies “are forced to rethink their commercial strategy and possibly explore the withdrawal of the American market”.

In a declaration sent by email to AP, Fedex declared that it would help its customers to adapt to new regulatory requirements and said that it would be important for the shippers to have “documents properly completed before collection” so that shipments move well.

Hilton Beckham, assistant customs commissioner and American border protection, said the federal agency was ready to implement the last prices.

“Our automated systems are fully updated to capture, assess and administer all new tasks, and clear advice will be provided to support the uniform application across the country,” said Beckham.

Ben Tzion, of Publican, said that he would “doubt” the American government were ready to treat the large number of low value shipments to tax next month.

The Hong Kong government said that Hong Kong Post “would temporarily maintain” postal services in the United States until May 2, but “would not receive any so-called prices on behalf of the American authorities”.

What is Minmis’s arrangement?

Introduced in 1938, the exception of minimis was intended to facilitate the flow of small packages valued at $ 5, the equivalent of around $ 109 today. The threshold rose to $ 200 in 1994 and $ 800 in 2016. But the rapid rise in cross -border electronic commerce, driven by China, disputed the intention of the exceptional rule of decades.

Chinese exports of low -value packages increased to $ 66 billion in 2023, compared to $ 5.3 billion in 2018, according to a February Congressal Research Service report. And the American market was a major destination.

The Chinese government, which considers cross -border electronic commerce as an essential element of its foreign trade, has introduced favorable policies, including financial support and the infrastructure building, to promote its growth.

Former President Joe Biden proposed a rule last year which said that foreign companies could not avoid prices simply by shipping goods that they claim to be $ 800 or less. Trump tried in February to end with the exception, but his initial order was canceled in the days when it appeared that the United States was not ready to treat and perceive prices on millions of packages.

American representative Rosa L. Delauro, a Connecticut democrat, said that she was delighted that Trump had acted a second time to eliminate the rule.

“For too long, this customs escape has enabled foreign exporters to denounce our cheap product market and helped drug traffickers to move fentanyl beyond our borders – which caused factory closings, job losses and deaths,” said Delauro.

A cheap explosion of products

In 2023, for the first time, more than a billion such plans went through American customs, against 134 million in 2015. At the end of last year, customs and border protection said that it treated around 4 million small expeditions per day.

The cheap prices and the growing popularity of Shein and Temu tightened fast fashion retailers like Forever 21 and H&M. Forever 21 blamed the tax exemption in part for its decision to deposit bankruptcy last month and close its American stores,

“We were unable to find a sustainable path, given the competition from rapid foreign fashion companies, which were able to take advantage of the minimis exemption to undermine our brand on prices and the margin,” said financial director Brad Sell in a statement.

Meanwhile, Amazon launched an online display at the end of last year with electronics, clothing and other products at a price of less than $ 20, in an apparent effort to compete with Temu and Shein. Amazon has sent the products to American customers of a warehouse she operates in China, according to the documentation that the company provided to the sellers.

Originally published: April 3, 2025 at 4:44 p.m.