The US government has delayed the suspension of the de minimis provision, a rule allowing packages worth less than $800 to enter the country duty-free. This move affects low-cost shopping sites from China that sell everything from fast fashion to furniture.
A delay in suspending the provision will last until “adequate systems are in place” for the Commerce Department to process and collect tariff revenue. If suspended, this rule would have impacted Chinese e-commerce sites like Shein, Temu, and Aliexpress, as well as retailers like Amazon and eBay that ship from China.
The de minimis provision has enabled over 1 billion packages to enter the US at a low cost. The delay is an example of Trump’s policies meeting reality, according to Clark Packard, a research fellow at the Cato Institute. Experts previously warned that suspending the rule would overwhelm US Customs and Border Protection due to its high volume.
To cope with the delay, companies can expand their warehouses in the US or ship bulk amounts through customs and reship products across the country. However, customers will still have to pay import taxes. The exact duration of the delay is unknown but could last for at least a year.
Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/07/business/de-minimis-loophole-tariffs-trump/index.html