CPA Says de Minimis Rule a 'Gift to Chinese E-Commerce Giants'
The Coalition for a Prosperous America, a Trump-aligned advocacy group on trade, slammed what it called an 11th-hour rule (see 2501130006) to create an enhanced entry process, which would replace the Type 86 test.
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Providing more data for an electronic clearance would continue to be voluntary -- except for international mail and partner government agency goods -- and bringing low-value packages in under manifest clearance would continue. If the rule becomes final, it wouldn't end the Section 321 Data Pilot. There will be changes to that pilot that will be announced in a later Federal Register notice, the administration said.
The CPA wants Trump to abandon this rulemaking process, and instead, promulgate a rule that would end de minimis entry entirely.
One of the data elements for the enhanced entry would be the marketplace's product listing URL, a product picture, an SKU or product code, and/or a foreign security scanning report, such as a shipment X-ray. The CPA characterized this as "outsourcing critical security functions to foreign customs authorities."
“The Biden administration is doubling down on failed policies that let China flood the U.S. market with unregulated goods,” CPA Chairman Zach Mottl said.
The CPA also linked to a story from International Trade Today about CBP's difficulty in enforcing the $800 per day limit when recipients are receiving more than one package in a day (see 2412310022), and said that the agency "has failed to enforce even the most basic statutory limitation on de minimis."
The group said "these lax controls have turned de minimis into a massive loophole, exploited by foreign vendors to ship unregulated, untaxed goods directly to American consumers."