The U.S. Postal Service suspended international inbound mail and packages from China and Hong Kong on Feb. 4 -- and then subsequently removed that suspension hours later.
President Donald Trump's decision to eliminate the duty-free de minimis threshold for goods from China, issued as part of his 10% tariff hike on Chinese products, likely will face legal challenges due to the economic importance of the de minimis rule, customs attorney Lawrence Friedman told us. However, many questions remain on the precise scope of any resulting change, along with the legal theory underpinning it.
Expect upheaval as companies that previously imported goods from China under the de minimis exemption face President Donald Trump's ban via executive order on using de minimis for those goods, members of the trade community told International Trade Today.
Peter Navarro, a trade adviser to President Donald Trump who was known as a China hawk when he served in the president's first administration, said the Commerce Department will be conducting Section 232 investigations on how the steel and aluminum actions should be adjusted, and how imports of critical minerals and essential medicines "are harming [our] ability to produce" those goods.
After pulling back for the moment on threatened 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports, China is the only country facing imminent tariffs over fentanyl smuggling. The 10% tariffs will be added to most favored nation duties or, for goods subject to Section 301 duties of either 25% or 7.5%, to those duties and the underlying MFN rates.
Goods exempted from new tariffs on Canada and China because they were in transit when the tariffs were announced must be entered before Feb. 7 for Canada, and before March 7 for China, to qualify for the exemption, CBP said in a pair of Federal Register notices released the afternoon of Feb. 3.
President Donald Trump signed on Feb. 1 an executive order setting a 25% tariff on most goods from Canada, but a 10% tariff on "energy goods." The emailed order says the tariffs will apply beginning 12:01 a.m. ET on Feb. 4, though goods in transit as of 12:01 a.m. ET on Feb. 1 will not be subject to the duties.
Hours after releasing an executive order imposing a 25% tariff on Canadian goods and a 10% tariff on energy goods from Canada, two additional orders came from the White House on Feb. 1: one setting a 10% tariff on goods from China and the other a 25% tariff on goods from Mexico.
Countries where the U.S. has a significant trade deficit could be potential targets for future U.S. tariffs, according to panelists speaking during a Jan. 29 customs market update sponsored by Expeditors.
Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., reintroduced a bill to disallow the use of de minimis entry for packages that include goods subject to Section 301 tariffs. The bill passed the House Ways and Means Committee in 2024 (see 2404180068). Murphy said in a Jan. 28 news release that two-thirds of de minimis imports are from China. "By updating our De Minimis law, we are creating a fairer playing field for American businesses to compete and ending abuse by Chinese companies," he said.