The exemption of minimis for low value packages sent to the United States ended on Friday, wreaking havoc in international shipping as mail companies, companies and consumers try to navigate the new rules.
The packages sent to the United States valued in less than $ 800 will now face tariffs and rates. The rates that the United States have in their countries of origin or fixed rates from $ 80 to $ 200 will be charged, the last option available for postal carriers only in the first six months. Shipments can face additional rates and rates in some cases.
John Pickel, vice president of supply chain policy in the National Foreign Trade, said it could take longer to reach some packages and that consumers and companies in the United States could end with significantly higher costs.
“In its average minimis shipping, paying a customs corridor and paying the rates will double the cost,” Pickel said. “That is even before you get to money that really goes to the government.”
A small company concerned with change: Greenwich Lipterpress, a stationery store in New York City. Co -owner Beth Salvini said that approximately half of the stores in the store come from other countries: congratulations from the United Kingdom, Portuguese handmade notebooks, Japan stationery. With the end of the exemption, Salvini plans to increase prices.
“In retail trade, he doesn’t buy something for $ 5 and sells it to his client for $ 2,” he said. “This store is not a hobby. So I live and pay my invoices. And my sister, she is my partner. Thus we pay our employees and our rent. And so, the idea that we could adopt each additional cost for small goods so small is simply not possible.”
The exemption of Minimis was streamlined by shipping processing abroad and allowed US companies and consumers to buy low -cost items abroad without incurring massive charges.
All types of low -value items have fallen under the exemption, including small kitchen appliances and utensils, beauty products and clothing from companies such as Shein, Temu and Etsy.
Minimis plots represented 97% of the volume of general shipping in the last three fiscal years, with around 4 million those deliveries processed by customs and border protection of the United States daily. In fiscal year 2024, most came from China: 994 million almost 1.4 billion.
The White House has taken several steps this year to end the exemption, which said it has been used to “evade tariffs and channel mortal synthetic opioids, as well as other insecure products or below the market that damage US workers and companies to the United States.”
The exemption of articles from China and Hong Kong ended in May. There has not been a significant change in monthly drug seizures since then, according to customs data and border protection of the United States.
Then, the president of the Tax and Expenses Law, Donald Trump, signed in July, eliminated the exemption for all countries from 2027. But Trump’s executive order on July 30 condensed the timeline, ending the exemption on Friday.
There are some exceptions: US travelers can still return $ 200 in personal items to the United States free of taxes. And someone abroad can send a gift of $ 100 or less to the United States free of taxes.
In the days before Friday, dozens of packaging carriers around the world arrested shipping to the United States while ordering the changes and updated their shipping procedures.
Salvini, Greenwich Lapterpress’s co -owner, said the business will no longer be able to buy certain items abroad, and some of the store’s international suppliers have cut shipping to the United States anyway. Therefore, customers can see different articles on the shelves, and Salvini and their team want to keep them as affordable as possible.
“We have always proud to be a space where you can enter and that you could spend $ 1 and get something,” he said. “It is not a luxury store. It does not eliminate people because it is too much, and we simply do not want to reach that point where everything here feels like it is a little above what someone might want to spend, because that is not the joy we try to show people.”
