Posted on 04/10/2025 3:41:56 PM PDT by SoConPubbie
REMINDER: The de minimis loophole comes from back in the 1930s. The idea back then was, say you went on a vacation to Paris, you shouldn’t have to file customs paperwork or pay taxes if you decided to ship some little Eiffel Tower statues to your friends back home.
Congress in 2015 then raised the de minimis threshold from $200 to $800. However, the e-commerce world exploded, and Chinese companies began using the de minimis loophole to ship cheap goods (ex. Temu and Shein) into the USA direct to consumers without paying any customs duty.
On April 2nd, as part of the global trade reset and tariff structure, President Trump revoked authorization for Chinese goods to transfer to the USA using the de minimis rule. The de minimis exemption was cancelled for all products coming out of China. The rule change only targeted China and Chinese shippers. No one else. [XO HERE]
Yesterday, as part of the modification to Executive Order #14257, President Trump has increased the baseline tariff for product mailed from China [de minimis tariff] from 30 90 percent to 120%.
Mailed products from China now face a 120% tariff. Additionally, minimum tariff amounts increased from $75 to $100 effective May 1st, and from $150 to $2oo effective June 1st. [See Section #4]
Example: If you order a $20 shirt from China effective June 1st, you will pay $220. $20 for the shirt, and $200 minimum tariff.
There is no way Chinese E-Commerce can survive this level of tariff/duty fees.
♦ SUBVERSION – The only way for the Chinese e-commerce to maneuver this, would be to extend the delivery times and transship through alternate mail and distribution centers, in other countries. Example, mail your $20 shirt to (Vietnam or Mexico or Canada) and have a distribution center then repackage and mail it to the USA. Or, far less likely, the Chinese e-commerce company can set up manufacturing centers in the 3rd party country (Vietnam, or Mexico or Canada) and make it there, not in China (not very likely at all).
President Trump is setting up bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) with each of the nations that China might attempt to use as a transshipping hub. Within those pending FTAs, there will certainly be no transshipping allowed, and trade sanctions in the FTAs as punitive punishment if they did it.
Keep watching this mail-order pressure point, because it’s likely to be more substantive -albeit less visible- than the manufacturing tariffs applied toward China directly.
This is going to last lesson a couple of weeks. Trump is not stupid he’ll figure out a way to let China meet with him to save face. It’s more of a Japanese thing, I know, but it’s still matters to them. And Trump really doesn’t care he just wants trade Wars to end.
For many, many moons, we have tried to avoid Chinese garbage. This will just make it easier.
Temu is doomed, and should be—their products suck!
China created a bioweapon that killed MILLIONS all in order to gain power and destroy Trump’s presidency so yeah, I want China to burn
This may dissuade many people buying unneeded items because of the higher price. It’s been: “Hey honey, we can get a bigger flat screen for only $300. Let’s upgrade”. It may self-correct hyper consumerism. Initially, it will slow retail, but eventually.......
I stopped buying things on eBay Trump’s first term , shipping went insane ,LOL
The article uses the scenario of a visiting tourist wanting to ship a trinket as the reason for the dollar floor for tariffs. China has been abusing this.
I bought something from China for about twenty bucks delivered. To send it back was $150. It was the wrong item. I took the loss.
Yeah, I think it was something Clinton did. They were shipping for free. Nice deal if you can...somehow...get it.
Got until May 1st? Already got my little cheap phone accessories from AliExpress that will last a bit but want to get a 16-bit SDR. All stuff I just can’t get here. That will be it for them for a while I guess.
“Temu is doomed, and should be—their products suck!”
Have you ever ordered from TEMU?
I purchased a small part for a camera from China a few years ago. It cost about $2 delivered!
I wondered, how can China ship so cheaply? It became apparent the US government was highly subsidizing Chinese businesses.
Yes, shoes that fell apart. Why do you ask?
Just wondering why you would order products that suck?
You bought shoes from Temu?
Just once, fell for the price and look. Thanks gator for the back-handed insult.
For years I’ve said the Chinese national motto is “9000 miles is a long way to return anything”.
From FR reporting, the USPS subsidize mail from China to the US.
My wife loves TEMU. We got a nice 4-wheel cart same as on Amazon but 40% cheaper.
Shipped from warehouse in US.
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