de minimis exemption – Live Laugh Love Do http://livelaughlovedo.com A Super Fun Site Wed, 03 Dec 2025 18:27:40 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.1 De minimis tariff dodge ending means less purchasing power for Americans http://livelaughlovedo.com/finance/de-minimis-tariff-dodge-ending-means-less-purchasing-power-for-americans/ http://livelaughlovedo.com/finance/de-minimis-tariff-dodge-ending-means-less-purchasing-power-for-americans/#respond Sat, 30 Aug 2025 12:43:06 +0000 http://livelaughlovedo.com/2025/08/30/de-minimis-tariff-dodge-ending-means-less-purchasing-power-for-americans/ [ad_1]

The de minimis exemption—a tariff loophole that for years made millions of direct-to-consumer imports duty free—is gone, and its end marks a structural shift for American shoppers and logistics providers. 

Up until Friday, U.S. consumers could order up to $800 in goods per package from overseas without paying any tariffs or taxes. Now, this landscape is changing, adding to inflationary pressures that will squeeze everyday purchasing power, particularly for low- and middle-income Americans, experts tell Fortune.

“It’s a different shock to the system at a different level than what we’ve seen with the tariffs on large industrial goods,” Rob Haworth, senior investment strategy director at U.S. Bank, told Fortune. “It does start up another near-term challenge for consumers and for businesses and spending overall.”

The de minimis exemption ended in May for imports from China, where an estimated three-quarters of goods under the $800 threshold came from, with a large share coming from e-commerce companies Shein and Temu. The de minimis suspension for parcels from all other countries implemented Friday now means the American dollar won’t buy as much as it used to, when it comes to shoppers purchasing goods made overseas.

“Categories like footwear and apparel will see some of the highest impacts, estimated at 15%-25% increased end consumer pricing, given the manufacturing origin often being China,” Sean Henry, CEO of Stord, an e-commerce and fulfillment company, told Fortune.

A senior Trump administration official said that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency has collected more than $492 million in additional duties on packages shipped from China and Hong Kong since ending the exemption.

And tariffs on goods that previously fell under de minimis could raise as much as $10 billion a year, U.S. trade advisor Peter Navarro told reporters Thursday. Putting that into perspective, the 2024 trade deficit in goods was $1.2 trillion.

“The net number (of tariff revenue without de minimis) is not all that meaningful in terms of how big the deficit is,” Baird Investment Strategist Ross Mayfield told Fortune. “The bigger difference is going to be the extent to which the government is levying these bigger, kind of broader swaths of tariffs.”

Over the past decade, the number of shipments entering the U.S. de minimis surged by more than 600%, from approximately 139 million in 2015 to almost 1.4 billion, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. However, the amount of revenue generated by these new tariffs depends on whether consumers are willing to continue to purchase cheap products from abroad.

“Nearly 40% of online shoppers abandon their carts when faced with these extra tariff and duty surcharges at checkout,” Stord CEO Henry said.

Lee Klaskow, a senior analyst of transportation and logistics at Bloomberg Intelligence, told Fortune he expects spending on these largely “discretionary” purchases to decrease.

“That Shein shirt that you really want that’s $5—maybe you’ll think twice about getting it because it’s going to be more expensive,” Klaskow said.

Prior to the pandemic, consumers had a “huge appetite for cheap things,” but Klaskow expects consumer behavior to flip in response to the change. 

U.S. Bank’s Haworth said he’s more focused on how the government will implement the change, as it will require new systems, investment, and infrastructure to collect on small purchases. 

He added the whole purpose of de minimis was to streamline the process of bringing small imports into the country, since they are more complex to track. The government has previously said this allowed illicit substances like fentanyl to cross into the U.S. more easily. Still, the system will need to recalibrate to adhere to the new rules.

“Originally why you had a de minimis exemption is so that you weren’t spending a lot of time on small transactions that didn’t net anything,” Haworth said. “So that’s kind of an interesting or challenging cost that is going to come into the business system.”

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Experts Predict Which Household Items Will Go Up In Price http://livelaughlovedo.com/culture-and-society/experts-predict-which-household-items-will-go-up-in-price-after-trump-kills-trading-loophole-this-month/ http://livelaughlovedo.com/culture-and-society/experts-predict-which-household-items-will-go-up-in-price-after-trump-kills-trading-loophole-this-month/#respond Tue, 19 Aug 2025 08:29:45 +0000 http://livelaughlovedo.com/2025/08/19/experts-predict-which-household-items-will-go-up-in-price-after-trump-kills-trading-loophole-this-month/ [ad_1]

As part of his escalating trade war, President Donald Trump is ending a shopping loophole that will make buying some of your everyday household goods more expensive very soon.

President Trump’s July executive order is ending the “de minimis” tariff exemption, which allowed U.S. shoppers to buy packages valued at $800 per day directly from foreign sellers free of tariffs and administrative fees, often skipping inspections and paperwork. After Aug. 29, that will end.

President Trump already ended “de minimis” tariff exemption for goods coming from China and Hong Kong, but his new executive order is ending this trading loophole for the rest of the world. Customs and Border Protection estimates that over 1.36 billion packages that were delivered in 2024 were “de minimis” shipments.

Now “all shipments, regardless of value or origin, will be subject to full customs clearance and applicable duties,” said Chris Tang, a University of California, Los Angeles professor who studies global supply chain management. All applicable duties broadly mean the tariffs from the item’s country of origin.

For example, the import duties from China are currently 30% due to the 90-day truce between the U.S. and China, meaning if you buy something valued at $200 from China, with a 30% tariff, that would end up being $260, Tang explained.

But no country is spared from these extra fees now.

This means that your France-made clothing and Korean cosmetics might start to experience the same price increases that you might already be seeing from Chinese e-commerce giants Shein, Temu and Alibaba, which relied on the “de minimis” exemption to keep prices low for U.S. shoppers.

Here are the unexpected and surprising items that will be impacted the most, as well as what you may want to stock up on before the month ends, according to shipping and customs experts.

A popular trade loophole that allowed many Americans to buy cheap, fast goods is ending this month. Here's what might be impacted first.

Illustration: Kelly Caminero/HuffPost; Photo: Getty Images

A popular trade loophole that allowed many Americans to buy cheap, fast goods is ending this month. Here’s what might be impacted first.

Clothing And Shoes

About 97% of apparel sold in America is made overseas, according to estimates from the American Apparel & Footwear Association.

The biggest sticker shocks will be in apparel and footwear, which are products the U.S. already taxes the heaviest. ”‘De minimis’ used to hide that at checkout, but after Aug. 29, those duties show up on every parcel,” said Casey Armstrong, chief marketing officer of ShipBob, a global fulfillment and supply chain platform.

Shoes and clothing are “the clear no. 1 most exposed [category],” Armstrong said. “Textiles in general often carry the highest tariff rates and this was a category that was greatly leveraging… the ‘de minimis’ exemption.”

Travel Suitcases And Other Travel Accessories

Armstrong said products related to travel, like backpacks, handbags, and cosmetic pouches, are also going to be “highly impacted” by the “de minimis” ending because many of these items get classified as textiles, which carry higher tariff rates.

Home Decorations

Low-value but high-volume goods like home decorations and low-cost gadgets will be “hit rather hard” by the end of “de minimis,” Armstrong said, because these items are where even a small duty can cause a noticeable price increase.

“Even if those only go by a dollar or two on a percentage basis, it exceeds a lot of the other products,” Armstrong noted.

Cosmetics

Your favorite Japanese lip gloss or Korean blush might contain plastic components sourced overseas, which are used to contain the makeup and come with small price margins. As a result, beauty cosmetics products and toiletries “will get hit pretty bad” when the duty-free loophole ends, Armstrong said.

Local Etsy and Ebay Sellers

More than e-commerce giants that can absorb costs more easily, you might notice significant upticks in prices from your local small businesses on Etsy and eBay, said Bernie Hart, vice president of customs at Flexport, a company that brokers customs clearance and logistics for importers and exporters.

A small business on Etsy and eBay is “operating on razor-thin margins” and “is not going to be able to absorb this cost, which means they’re likely going to have to pass it on to the end consumer,” Hart said.

Pet Products

Your dog and cat toys, grooming tools and pet supplements you buy from international sellers on Amazon — most of them are from China, Tang said. He recommended stocking up on pet toys, grooming kits and specialty treats.

Electronics

“Given that most electronic goods are made in China or Vietnam, consumers will be paying a higher price” for tech products, Tang noted. He recommended stocking up on your chargers, cables and earbuds before “de minimis” ends.

Seasonal Fall And Winter Items, Like Christmas Decor

Since many major businesses anticipated the end of “de minimis,” you may not notice significant price upticks or low inventory in certain items, as these brands have stockpiled inventory as best they could in the United States. But by fall, that stockpile might run out, Hart said.

“Christmas lights, costumes… any decor, even presents, in and of themselves, are going to probably end up being more expensive,” Hart said.

Hart said that you can typically tell where your Christmas products are produced by looking at the tag or description online.

“If you are considering products for Christmas holidays, and you know it is foreign sourced…you might want to buy that sooner than later,” he said.

Beyond higher prices, expect more delays, too.

As certain items become pricier over time, you might also start noticing longer delivery times, too. The “de minimis” trading loophole made it easier for packages to get to your door without needing to hop over hurdles of time-consuming fees or customs inspections.

“If the seller has already set up a distribution center in the United States… then they should be fine,” Hart noted. But if this seller relies on having goods cross an international border, “there’s more chances for it to be delayed by paying the duties, taxes and fees, if it gets held for an exam –– these are all things that they didn’t have to worry about previously.“

Overall, the “de minimis” exemption for duty-free shopping helped to train American consumers to expect their items to arrive at their doorstep as fast and cheaply as possible, no matter where their coats and computer chargers were coming from. But shoppers might have to train themselves to expect a different kind of experience now.

“Most people don’t care that that inner [bicycle] tube is going to be coming from Germany. They just want the price to be competitive,” Hart said. “Now, I think you’re going to see more of an indication of, ‘Oh, this is coming from this place. That’s why the price is significantly more now.’”

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