This US Import Rule Shows How Global Trade Went Wrong
Trump ended the “de minimis exemption,” which allowed duty-free imports of $800 or less. There’s a better way to fix it.
Chinese retailers like Shein and Temu thrived under the $800 de minimis rule.
Photographer: Raul Ariano/Bloomberg
To understand the origin of the free-trade excesses that created record trade deficits and set in motion President Donald Trump’s tariff storm, consider the so-called de minimis exemption.
This law — often erroneously referred to as a loophole — allows for duty-free entrance of items with a value of less than $800, which is a much more lenient threshold than that of any of the other major countries with similar rules. Amid the flurry of tariffs that Trump announced last week, he also canceled these duty-free entries for China and Hong Kong by applying either a fee or tariff on the imports. He also left open the door for expanding this treatment to other countries.