The Administration of United States President Donald Trump announced it would reduce tariffs on low-cost packages from China that fall under the de minimis exemption from 120% to 54%. The de minimus rule allows low-cost parcels costing under USD800 to enter the U.S. duty-free and avoid customs inspections. A flat fee of USD100 will remain, while the USD200 charge that was to be imposed from next month was canceled. The tariff rate on de minimis packages is now either a flat USD100 or 54% of their value.
“This is great for Shein and Temu, if nothing else, to replenish their U.S. inventory,” Yao Jin, Associate Professor of Supply Chain Management at Miami University of Ohio, said. Estimates by Baird Equity Research suggest that in 2018, at least 75% of all the packages that entered the U.S. under de minimis were from China. Today, it is more than 60%. In February, Trump imposed a tax of 120% of the package’s value or a planned flat fee of USD200. In fiscal year 2024, at least 1.36 billion shipments utilized de minimis, an increase of 637 million compared with 2020, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. In 2018, Chinese exports under de minimis were worth USD5.3 billion, but rose to USD66 billion in 2023, the Congressional Research Service found.
