US-China deal reportedly does not cover de minimis exemption for e-commerce shipments | Forexlive

The de minimis exemption is a rule which allowed for certain e-commerce shipments of goods at $800 or less to enter duty-free. The $800 is the threshold amount so to speak. Any shipments below that will not incur import charges basically. This allowed a supposed “loophole” for online retailers – particularly fast fashion from China – to have a stronger presence in the US.

This exemption was removed by the White House last month here. And it looks like even with the trade deal announced today, that’s not going to fall back into place.

So, in any case, online shopping from overseas will definitely be much more expensive for US consumers regardless of the deal today.

If you head over to the DHL sub-Reddit in the past two weeks, you can already see how much of a pain tariffs have become for US consumers. There’s been countless cases of duties charged being much more than the entire item/product ordered itself. It goes to show where the pain really lies when it comes to tariffs.