President Trump, after saying tariff decisions on China would wait until he had talks with that country's president, returned to his previous stance in favor of the tariffs. He made the comments at a White House press conference Jan. 21.

"The fentanyl coming into Mexico is massive," he said, and segued to saying, "I had that talk with [Chinese] President Xi [Jinping], the other day, too, of China. 'We don't want that crap in that country. We've got to stop it.'" He said China was going to give the death penalty to those selling fentanyl for the illicit U.S. market, but Biden didn't follow through with the deal.

"We're talking about a tariff of 10% on China" over the fentanyl smuggling, he said. When asked how soon, he said: "Probably February 1st."

At the same press conference, Trump warned the European Union is "going to be in for tariffs. It's the only way you're going to get fairness."

President Donald Trump told reporters that his administration is still thinking of imposing 25% tariffs on both Mexican and Canadian goods "because they're allowing vast numbers of people -- Canada's a very bad abuser also -- vast numbers of people to come in, and fentanyl to come in. I think we'll do it February 1st."

He was less definitive on his plans for hiking tariffs on China. He earlier had said a 10% tariff would be added to Chinese goods over fentanyl. On Jan. 20, as he signed an executive order delaying a shutdown of TikTok, he said the 10% tariff threat "was only because of fentanyl," and said he had other concerns too, such as China controlling the Panama Canal. (China does not control the Panama Canal, but it does own ports near its entrance.)

But he said he would not be putting 60% tariffs on goods from China -- at least not unless he needed them to pressure China to allow a sale of TikTok. He said he wanted the U.S. government to get half the value of TikTok, and said that if China wouldn't approve a sale, he'd consider that "a hostile act," and he might impose tariffs in response. "I'm not saying I would, but you could totally do that," he added. He said if he put 20, 30, 40, 50, even 100% tariffs on China, it would then approve a divestiture.

When asked if he would put a 10% tariff on all imports, he replied, "I may, but we're not ready for that yet."

No goods subject to special trade remedies would be able to enter de minimis -- which primarily affects goods subject to Section 301 tariffs -- under a proposed rule released by CBP Jan. 17.

Because CBP needs to know the classification to determine if goods could enter duty-free under this regime, CBP is proposing to require a 10-digit HTS code on all packages -- including those cleared off manifest, in addition to packages in the "enhanced entry" stream the agency described in an earlier proposed rule that would replace the Type 86 process.

The government said because the revenue from these tariffs is projected to be between $5.9 billion and $7.8 billion in 2025, it "anticipates that the amount of additional revenue to be collected under the proposed exception would substantially outweigh the expense and inconvenience to the U.S. Government of collecting the duties."

The agency acknowledged that applying this new regime to international mail would be challenging. "While CBP has included international mail in the scope of this proposed rulemaking, CBP seeks public comments that address the operational feasibility in the international mail environment," the notice said.

The Department of Homeland Security has added 37 more companies to its list of entities that may be using forced labor from the Xinjiang region of China, bringing the total number of companies on the list to 144. Three energy companies were added to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List in the category of companies allegedly harboring or using forced labor, while 35 companies within the textile, energy and solar industries were added for sourcing materials from the Xinjiang region or participating in government-supported poverty alleviation schemes. One company, a zinc manufacturer, was flagged for using forced labor and sourcing materials from the Xinjiang region. The listings take effect Jan. 15, according to a Federal Register notice.

Type 86 entries would be replaced by an "enhanced entry process" if a proposed rule becomes final, but clearing goods off the manifest via a "basic" entry process would still be possible for de minimis shipments, CBP said in a notice of proposed rulemaking scheduled for publication Jan. 14.

The NPRM makes several other significant changes to its approach to de minimis packages. One, if an importer exceeds $800 in value in shipments in one day across multiple packages, none of the packages would be eligible for duty-free entry. Also, the ability to send packages to different employees at the same business to get around the $800 limit would no longer exist. Only the owner or buyer is considered for de minimis, not a consignee that is receiving the goods.

The regulation would also change language allowing the duty exemption from "shall" to "may," with the notice saying: "the administrative exemptions are a privilege and not an absolute right."

Importing through the mail would have to be done through the enhanced entry process.

The "basic" entry process would be quite similar to current processes for goods cleared off the manifest, except that the "ultimate consignee" would be replaced with the name and address of the final deliver-to party, if that's different from the buyer. It also would require the buyer's or owner's name because that would be who the $800 limit is linked to.

For the enhanced entry, CBP will require:

• Clearance tracing identification number
• Country of shipment
• HTS code (but waivers will be available for "for filers with demonstrated capabilities and histories of segmenting out goods subject to PGA requirements.")
• Either the marketplace' product listing URL, a product picture, a SKU or product code, and/or a foreign security scanning report, such as a shipment x-ray
• Seller name and address
• Purchaser name and address
• PGA data, if warranted
• Marketplace name and website

Comments on the proposed rule may be filed by March 17 at https://www.regulations.gov, via docket number USCBP-2025-0002

The notice said the administration intends to publish the other notice of proposed rulemaking, which would restrict which goods are eligible for de minimis entry, "in the coming days."

If these rules become final, they would not end the Section 321 Data Pilot. There will be changes to that pilot that will be announced in a later FR notice, the administration said.