No order is too small to escape Trump’s tariff reach.
By executive order, the De Minimis Tariff Exemption ends August 29.
Key Changes
- Suspension of the Rule: The de minimis provision, which allowed shipments under $800 to be exempt from duties, is being suspended by presidential executive order.
- Effective Date: The new rules become effective on August 29, 2025.
- Affected Shipments: The change applies to most low-value imports, regardless of their country of origin or method of entry.
International Shipments
- Non-Postal Shipments: Goods not shipped through the international postal system will be subject to the same duties, taxes, and fees as any other import.
- Ad Valorem Duty: A duty equal to the applicable tariff rate based on the product’s country of origin.
- Specific Duty: A flat fee based on the tariff rate applicable to the country of origin (e.g., $80, $160, or $200). After six months, the ad valorem method will be the only option for postal shipments.
Impact on Consumers and Businesses
- Consumers: Expect higher prices on goods shipped from overseas, potentially leading to more cautious spending and a shift to domestic brands or resale markets.
- Businesses: Companies need to immediately review their supply chains, recalculate duties and costs, and adjust fulfillment strategies to comply with the new rules.
- International Impact: The change has already caused some European postal services to pause shipments to the U.S. as they work to implement the new procedures.
What the Section 321 Suspension Means for Ecommerce
Red Stag Fulfillment explains What the Section 321 Suspension Means for Ecommerce
For years, e-commerce businesses have relied on Section 321 to import products with a retail value of up to $800 into the U.S. duty-free. This provision, known as the de minimis exemption, was a cornerstone of many international supply chains and fulfillment strategies.
That era is over. The U.S. government has suspended the de minimis exemption for all commercial shipments, effective August 29, 2025. This is one of the most significant shifts in U.S. trade policy in years, and it directly impacts how you source, ship, and sell your products, especially for ecommerce brands.
New Duties for Shipments
- For Private Carriers (e.g., FedEx, DHL, UPS): Shipments will be subject to the standard duties and tariffs based on the product’s classification and country of origin (ad valorem).
- For the International Postal Network: These shipments face a transitional duty structure. For the first six months, a flat fee ranging from $0.80 to $2.00 per item will apply, depending on the origin country’s tariff rate. This will later shift to a full ad valorem system.
- Limited Exceptions Remain: The suspension does not affect non-commercial exemptions. U.S. travelers can still bring back up to $800 in personal items, and individuals can receive bona fide gifts valued at $100 or less, duty-free.
Strategic pivots: adapting your supply chain to the end of de minimis
- Shift from Parcel to Freight (Consolidation is Key): The single most important strategy is to stop thinking in terms of individual packages and start thinking in terms of bulk freight. Shipping individual orders from overseas will now incur duties and fees on every single parcel, destroying margins. The new winning strategy is to consolidate your products into larger freight shipments (Less-than-Container Load or Full Container Load) to be imported into the U.S. at once. This drastically reduces the per-item customs processing costs.
- Embrace Domestic Fulfillment: With consolidation as the new import model, having a U.S.-based fulfillment center is no longer a luxury—it’s a necessity. By importing goods in bulk to a 3PL partner like Red Stag Fulfillment, you can warehouse your inventory domestically. This allows you to pay duties once on the bulk shipment and then fulfill orders to your customers quickly and efficiently from within the U.S., completely avoiding the new per-package complexities.
- Recalculate Your Landed Costs: Your product pricing must be updated. The true landed cost of your goods now includes not only the product cost and shipping but also the newly applied tariffs and duties. Failing to account for these will lead to unsustainable losses. You must re-evaluate your margins and adjust your consumer-facing prices accordingly.
- Prioritize Customs Compliance: With formal entry required for all shipments, the risk of costly delays, penalties, and seizures for incorrect documentation is higher than ever. Ensure your HTS classifications are correct and your valuations are accurate. Partnering with experienced customs brokers and 3PLs who understand these new regulations is critical to avoiding compliance issues and ensuring full supply chain visibility.
What happens if I don’t comply with the new rules?
Non-compliance with formal entry process procedures can lead to significant penalties, including fines, seizure of your goods, and lengthy shipping delays. Given the increased scrutiny from US customs, prioritizing customs compliance is more important than ever.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I still import one shipment per day under the old rules?
No. The “one shipment per person per day” rule was a condition of the Section 321 exemption. Since the exemption is suspended, this rule is no longer relevant for avoiding duties. All commercial de minimis imports are now subject to duties regardless of how many are sent per day.Does this suspension affect shipments from all countries?
Yes. While the de minimis exemption was first suspended for China and Hong Kong (affecting many Chinese goods), the executive order effective August 29, 2025, applies to commercial shipments from all countries.
Four Strategic Pivots
Read the above four strategic pivots closely.
All consumers and most small businesses will struggle with all four. Even those who shift from parcel to freight via larger order, still have to pay the tariff.
Physical Inspection and Verification
- Screening: Customs scans every incoming international package using X-ray or other technology to verify that the contents align with the customs forms.
- Targeted inspections: An officer may open a package for closer inspection if:
- Information doesn’t match: The screening reveals discrepancies with the declared contents.
- Irregularities are found: The shipment appears suspicious, for example, due to undeclared items or questionable pricing.
- A package is randomly selected: Customs performs random checks to ensure overall compliance with trade regulations.
- Investigation of discrepancies: If customs finds that the declared value is untruthful or inaccurate, they can take further action to determine the proper value. This can involve using alternative valuation methods if the stated “transaction value” is deemed unreliable.
From AI: When shipping a personal package from overseas, you are legally required to declare its value on a customs form. This is mandatory even if the items are used, have little monetary worth, or are gifts.
Customs authorities use the information provided in shipping documents to determine ad valorem duty, but they can and do open packages to verify the contents and declared value. This is done to ensure compliance, protect against smuggling, and prevent revenue fraud.
Nothing Too Small to Escape
The Wall Street Journal notes The Petty Package Tax Arrives
No cardboard box or envelope is too modest to escape President Trump’s tariff gaze. On Friday he sealed the crack in his trade wall that let packages under $800 pass without paying heavy import taxes. Like many protectionist policies, this could backfire. The Chinese retailers Mr. Trump wants to punish have already adapted, but small U.S. importers are about to get hit.
Four months after Mr. Trump suspended the de minimis tariff exemption for shipments from China and Hong Kong, he has now ended it for goods from all nations. The exemption had been a duty-free threshold for purchases up to $800, and it benefited everyone from college freshmen to custom car mechanics. Last year it covered more than 1.3 billion packages.
The President in May called de minimis “a big scam going on against our country,” saying Chinese companies, including discount retailer Temu and clothing seller Shein, used the exemption to flood the U.S. with cheap goods. Republicans in Congress got on board, adding a provision to their big, beautiful bill to repeal the legal basis for de minimis by July 2027. Mr. Trump couldn’t wait and ended the policy in time for Labor Day sales.
Yet the Chinese companies adjusted after Mr. Trump closed the tiny zero-tariff door in their faces. Temu and Shein opened U.S. warehouses to distribute goods instead of shipping direct to American buyers. Some of these items are imported at Mr. Trump’s 30% tariff rate on China, but the retailers have also shifted their supply chains, sourcing more products from places such as Mexico and Vietnam. Temu’s parent company on Monday reported higher-than-expected revenue growth, with the U.S. making up a third of its sales.
The worldwide ending of the de minimis rule will be a bigger jolt for small buyers and sellers, and it’s also an administrative nightmare. Several national postal carriers, including in Australia, India, Japan and the U.K., paused shipments to the U.S. Some private carriers like DHL did the same, while FedEx and UPS added fees to U.S.-bound packages. That adds to tariffs on the actual goods, which will jump from zero to any of the countless rates that Mr. Trump has imposed by country.
Mr. Trump is a tariff maximalist and couldn’t bear to see gaps in his trade wall. But there will be little to show for ending de minimis, other than millions of price increases scattered around the country.
Expect a Legal Challenge
The Wall Street Journal provides the rationale.
“Republicans in Congress got on board, adding a provision to their big, beautiful bill to repeal the legal basis for de minimis by July 2027. Mr. Trump couldn’t wait and ended the policy in time for Labor Day sales.”
The best way forward is a class action suit. And it should not be that difficult to find willing parties with proper standing to file suit.
Meanwhile …
For personal goods, the shipper will place the valuation. Unless the shipper says it will eat the tax, the consumer will pay the tax.
It’s also possible the shipper will claim to pay the tax, most likely by increasing the price.
Small American businesses and consumers are certain to take a hit.
Unfortunately, There will be no recourse for any companies that go out of business over this madness.
Hopefully, most of the stockpiled many months of materials. But even if so, that’s an unnecessary up-front cost.
Related Tariff Issues
August 29, 2025: Full Appeals Court Rules 7-4 Against Trump’s Reciprocal Tariffs
In a very much expected (by me) ruling, the appeals court rejects Trump’s global tariffs.
August 30,2025: Trump Moans About Tariff Ruling, Puts Direct Pressure on 4 Supreme Court Justices
Pressure is on Justices Thomas, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Alito.
I have not studied the legal issues surrounding de minimus as closely as reciprocal tariffs.
Perhaps Congress opened up a can of worms for Trump by specifying a legal end date to de minimis tariffs that Trump totally ignored.
Finally, a huge, but delayed impact on small businesses is coming up. How many months of inventory did they order? Those who didn’t will be punished quickly.
I expect many small businesses will go out of business over this.
Perhaps Congress opened up a can of worms for Trump by specifying a legal end date to de minimis tariffs that Trump totally ignored.
Finally, a huge, but delayed impact on small businesses is coming up. How many months of inventory did they order? Those who didn’t will be punished quickly.
I expect many small businesses will go out of business over this.
You mean the mom and pop import businesses that Chinese companies helped set up to take advantage of this loophole through partnerships and trade support agreements? Definitely they will get screwed. I hope they didn’t borrow money from them as well.
Follow the $
TradeWheel and Lingshoutong do offer to sell to the moms and pops on very generous credit terms that fall just short of formal loans among other support that they have to pay back.
It goes both ways. American farmers have been selling endless corn and soybean to China. oh the humanity! That’s all coming to an end and MAGA rural country will reap what they sow (sweet pun intended).
I welcome our new corporate farm overlords.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/ar-AA1LyMuc
What was that MAGA saying F.A.F.O?
Expect trump to bail them out with the profits from the tariffs. Just like last term.
No, not this time…
Take a gander at a long-term chart of corn prices.
https://www.macrotrends.net/2532/corn-prices-historical-chart-data
What do you notice? Corn is coming down off a surge caused by Covid and is back down close to its 2013-2020 baseline. The same thing happened in 2008. We had a similar surge and it came back down. Now I understand why corn farmers are upset because for three years they were raking in the money because of the price surge but now that surge is over. That’s life.
in 1971 corn prices surged never to see those levels. coincided with the default on gold in august of 1971. which also brought the arab oil embargo as payback. i suspect the next decade will be marked by many payback scenarios for PEDOTUS TRUMP trying to screw the world like Tricky Dick.
After the closure of the Suez canal between 1967 and 1975 shipping cost took off. In 973 the oil embargo and ARAMCO confiscation. Sugar was more expensive decades ago than today. Corn down ==> pigs prices should go down.
Farm costs are much higher now that the 90% of potash we use in fertilizers and the midwestern oil refineries are strapped with massive tariffs. Regular gasoline has gone from $2.96 to $3.45 since the election and you can be damn sure the farmers are sensitive to this and well aware that Trump has failed them.
Crushing the farmers that voted Trump in is not funny! So they are sitting there with the knowledge that Trump is not only a pedophile, he is a liar!
I may have the only financially successful farm in the county!
At the good ol boys coffee meetings last week the dissension was starting to show. I’m keeping quiet most of the time but get quite a few “how did you figure this out before planting” questions privately.
Trump is of course deaf to the drums in the forest…
More corn for us! Corn has been cheap this summer. Regular sales. This week, two local supermarket are doing 8 corn on the cob for $1. That’s just 12.5 cents/each!
Human should take a pass on corn and soybeans; leave it for the livestock.
Europpean Union ended it s de minimis 2 years ago. Prior this, goods below 20€ weren t subject to vat.
Nope. The current plan is to abolish it in March 2028. Europe still has a $150 euro de mininus exemption for small packages. Like the US, this is an exemption on customs duties. VAT still applies in order to keep a level playing field for all consumer purchases.
Less consumption is a good thing. America still consumes way too much junk. If you are like me who has been in the less is more crowd for decades, then you know what I mean. Im not taking away anyone’s rights as a consumer but I will be celebrating quietly if there is less consumption and more thinking before buying.
And restrictions on Taxpayers Subsidized Food. We want to make sure an example is set by only healthy foods. We also don’t need to be adding Medical Cost down the road, by allowing poor choices that could cause harm. Let’s help, by Helping the people make good choices when using other peoples money, and to realize that they can have whatever they want too, once they get a job, move off of Taxpayers Subsidies, and can pay for it themselves. Hopefully they learned good eating behaviors from what was taught by the Subsidies.Food Choices. A healthy America, is a Strong America!!!
Why subsidize food at all? Doing so only leads to increased breeding and an extension of problems. Stop food stamps and stop these food handouts by bleeding-heart organizations that attract blocks long lines of cars collecting the free handouts.
Here in CA, even wealthy people can qualify for food supports. While there is supposedly a $2k/$3k (single/married) limit on assets to qualify, your primary house and car are not included inthe qualification calculation. So you can qualify, even if you own a $$$multi-million house and car!
In Nature, if you can’t source food, then you die. This is how the universe works.
– Why subsidize food at all? Doing so only leads to increased breeding and an extension of problems. Stop food stamps and stop these food handouts by bleeding-heart organizations that attract blocks long lines of cars collecting the free handouts. > Doing it correctly, doesn’t allow for that. Get rid of those in control of it, and not the program. It is truly needed by some.
– Here in CA, even wealthy people can qualify for food supports. > CA. Is not the Norm for anything.
– In Nature, if you can’t source food, then you die. This is how the universe works. > We are not living in nature, but rather amongst it.
Folk buying less junk is a good thing long term
Given that manufacturing very cheap product sin the USA is difficult to impossible due to our plethora of regulations and high labor rates, any new factories created here are going to have to be mostly automated to keep manufacturing costs down.
I don’t believe this is what Trump is hoping for. Unintended consequences?
I stopped into a Dollar Tree store on Friday. They have increased their prices again from $1.25 to $1.50 but some products are sold at other varied prices. I saw some as high as $5.
The store was empty. There are a subset of products, such as generic cleaning items, that really are worth only a $1 and increasing to $1.50 loses customers who no longer see value.
Sigh . . . . and the idiocy of spending $30 to collect $3 in duties makes SO much sense … there is a rational reason (exactly the same reason why you can bring in $800 in goods in person without declaring it) to have a de minimus exemption (although I have to agree that $800 might be a bit high).
Fraud and smuggling are huge problems with de minimis.
Legal trade can afford a modest inspection and paperwork fee.
Chinese companies like Temu imported huge amounts of products into warehouses in the US, so they can fulfill orders for customers w/o them having to worry about custom tariffs.
Great! It’s about damn time. If Trump’s massive tariff gamble is going to have its intended overall effect, get rid of the exceptions. If this lurches us into a recession, then so be it. The Grand Experiment continues, at least until SCOTUS has the final word.
We could use a good old recession to cull the Hurd some. Then we’ll get to see what kind of CRAZY covid follow-up emergency helicopter spending Congress & the Fed can inject into the economy, trying to pick winners & losers. People will be doing all sorts of things to get fired, so they can sit at home & make $75K for two years on unemployment, because by then robots & AI will be doing all the work.
We’re well on our way to being bankrupt anyhow. A moderate recession that overnight pushes the USA to $45T in debt & a $10T Fed balance sheet is just what the Dr. ordered.
My only question is how low can the Fed push rates this time & still get stupid banks to load up 10T & 20Y treasuries yielding 0.5%? Let’s see if we can get JP Morgan Chase to fail this time around.
How will loading up on treasuries get banks to fail? Banks no longer hold loans, those are all packaged off into MBSs and sold to investors in their 401K/pension plans. So the tax payers are on the hook for loans, not banks. This is the lesson learned after the 08 crash.
Also banks already park their money at the Fed for guaranteed rates so they don’t need to buy treasuries.
You need to get a clue about actual bank balance sheets.
the banks that failed in 2023 did so because they were insolvent, because their balance sheets were loaded with low-interest loans and Treasury Bonds. They were so far underwater everyone except their regulators knew they were toast, hence the bank runs.
Thanks, Wisdom Seeker!
They were money laundering fronts. “Closed – nothing to see here!”
Those banks aren’t the big banks (JPM, BOA etc). They don’t get Fed access like JPM/BOA.
Every year there are failures in smaller banks (esp savings and loans). It happens and it’s always going to happen.
But the big banks with Fed access won’t be failing due to loans.
What a turd-load of hubris! LOL
Five banks failed in 2023. Oh, the humanity! And like they represented the entire banking system.
Two have already failed this year: https://www.fdic.gov/bank-failures/failed-bank-list
You going to blame Trump? I didn’t think so
The entire banking system including the federal Reserve was so far underwater in 2023 they could’ve visited the Titanic.
The regulators let it go this time. In the past a lot more banks would’ve been allowed to fail in order to teach them proper behavior.
Normally the Federal Reserve remits interest on its portfolio to the Treasury, and this offsets a lot of the U.S. Government’s interest expense.
They haven’t been doing that for 3 years and it’s now added about a trillion to the national debt.
That’s a huge taxpayer subsidy to an insolvent banking system.
As is often the case, you throw around these half-truths as if they are gospel. And I believe you know they are not; you just have a biased POV you want to put out.
“The regulators let it go this time.” Nice opinion. Exactly which banks – and how many – would have failed if regulators used some kind of perfect, in-the-past standards in 2023? I won’t wait for your list because I know it doesn’t exist.
Yes, the Fed does remit ‘extra’ interest from its operations when its interest rate policy happens to yield that. But the Fed sometimes loosens and sometimes tightens with obvious impacts on its interest ‘earnings’. But that has ALWAYS been the case since it has conducted open market operations and has zero to do with 2023 specifically.
AND the Fed has no Congressionally mandated charter or explicit purpose of providing interest payments to the US Treasury. But you already know that (without stating it). And it is not in the US budget to receive those payments annually.
So “it’s now added about a trillion to the national debt.”? That’s unadulterated horsesh*t. Congress – with its own actions – adds to or reduces the deficit and so the debt. It’s not the Fed’s job to deal with that. And it certainly never “adds” to the national debt; it does not have that authority.
And “an insolvent banking system.”? The banks (combined) currently hold $3.3 trillion+ in immediately available reserves held at the Fed: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/TOTRESNS. And THEN they have other short-term assets, plus other (your so-called ‘underwater’) assets they could liquidate.
If your opinion is that banks collectively are about to take a multi-trillion-dollar hit to erase all reserves at the Fed and other short-term assets before starting a liquidation process, so be it (even if it’s uninformed). But it’s nothing close to factual or historical truth.
Seems to me you’re the one cherry-picking half-truths.
The Federal Reserve has a LEGAL mandate (yes, from Congress) to remit interest back to the Treasury. Those funds do reduce the national debt.
The Fed failing to turn an annual profit is so unusual that it Never Happened in 108 years, until 2023:
“The Federal Reserve reported a net loss of $114.3 billion in their Audited Annual Financial Statements for 2023. This is the first net loss from the Fed in 108 years …”
As a reminder, yields & prices of bonds move opposite one another.
The hilarious part was how predictable it all was.
Without the Fed’s Bank Term Funding Program, it would have gotten a lot worse.
But that’s what the Fed does: bailout banks, so the only ones who take haircuts are investors in the bank’s stock.
I’m aware of how bonds work.
Incidentally investors in bank stock are in fact the owners of the bank. So if the Fed bails out banks it’s bailing out investors.
… and taxpayers, and then everyone, via the ensuing inflation
“Unfortunately, There will be no recourse for any companies that go out of business over this madness.”
A lot of U.S. factories closed down and moved to China, over the madness of making China producer to the world. A few weeks ago i watched a video from March, showing the numerous empty store fronts along the 3rd Street Promenade Mall in Santa Monica. Just weeks ago, the City allowed certain mall visitors to walk around the outdoor mall with alcoholic drinks, in order to attract more people to the Mall. Normal has not returned since the unnecessary 2020 lockdowns.
Vegas is dead, that’s very telling. I had lunch with co-workers last week, they picked a high end shopping center with lots of fancy restaurants. To my shock, half were closed. I asked what happened and the person that lives near there said all the immigrant labor stopped showing up to work because of ICE so the restaurants shut down.
the restaurants were closed b/c lack of customers not lack of workers.
Link to this ‘wisdom’?
I didn’t think so
LOL just google, it’s all over the local news.
https://www.reviewjournal.com/business/the-whole-town-is-slower-las-vegas-economy-hits-the-brakes-3427769/
You didn’t need to read the news, though, it’s obvious. In a large market like Las Vegas, there’s no shortage of people. So if you have customers you can attract workers (if needed, with higher wages). And if there were customers (“profits to be had”) in a retail area with closed storefronts, one of the local surivivng business owners would find a way to expand. The landlord and other businesses would encourage them, because vacant storefronts are toxic to customer traffic and rents for everyone in the area. So those places only stay shut down if they can’t get enough customers to cover expenses.
You could argue that it’s more like New York City, where the rent on a store is often so high that most kinds of businesses can’t pull in enough sales to earn a profit. But that also can be seen as a lack of customers (at the market price).
Way to go, ICE!
When they’re ready to open up & pay real wages, then that’s what will happen.
Otherwise, Vegas can jump in front of the line for a growing downturn.
Your comments used to be worthwhile reading. They are now almost as stupid as Dougs. I only have so much time and I hate wasting it on stupid comments.
read the entire change
Limited Exceptions Remain: The suspension does not affect non-commercial exemptions. U.S. travelers can still bring back up to $800 in personal items, and individuals can receive bona fide gifts valued at $100 or less, duty-free.
So, nothing.
So Chinese shippers should start classifying their under $100 product sales as “gifts” to American buyers?
I get it. It means that you should fly to China to pick up your package personally. And while you are there, you might as well see the sights. I recommend the Terracotta warriors in Xi’an.
As this will hit Amazon, effectively the USA has a national sales tax. The national sales tax couldn’t have been passed because in democracy you can only sweeten the deal for the voter even if the substance is a poison.
The domestic producers don’t have to pay it. Clever.
In 2015 only 140 million packages were sent this way mainly by individuals sending packages to each other. In 2024 over one billion small tariff-free packages were sent the same way. The increased came when Chinese exporters found the loophole and rammed as much as they could through it tariff-free. They gamed the system which was not set up to give Chinese companies a free ride. Trump closed it off. Why are some of you bitching?
“Why are some of you bitching?”
Mid-terms are a little bit over a year away, we’ll see who gets their ass bitched out of Congress!
The Democrats’ asses has already been bitched. Look who is guiding your party.
My party? There are two parties now, socialist democrats and communist republicans, I belong to neither which is why I am leaving.
and by 2030, there will be a new party of howling, screeching broke boomers crying for more welfare. No thanks.
Oh, so you bitch because you like to bitch and not because your preferred party is not in power.
you would have to be an outright bootlicker and moron to want more border taxes, regardless of the countries that are sourced. and regardless of the country you reside or are a citizen. amazing how stupid people are. you sound like a baby seal begging to be clubbed. it’s darling really. never change.
Nobody! That’s who’s leading the Dems, now that Obama has to worry about going to jail.
Obama has absolutely no worry about going jail.
I know, but it sure would be nice if he had to pucker up some.
I don’t think that phrase means what you think it means.
The Dems should run on the line that they will rescind most everything that Trump has done which violates the spirit of the Constitution, if not the actual document.
The Chicago cemeteries are exporting used tombstones to Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio.
The dems are stuck with the same old stuff: freedom to murderers vs death penalty in DC. Open the southern border vs shut it. Stops 150,000 death from drugs overdose from China and Mexico vs the cartel will retaliate. Wall street bridge to the world to expand jobs in China vs build a wall and bring back jobs. Increase gov regulations vs fire gov lawyers and useless docs. Expand the gov vs cut cut cut
Not everything comes from China. If China is a problem, deal with China. Instead that economic moron Trump has decided to punish Americans for purchasing things not made in China.
But China is the 1000 lbs Gorilla-Elephant.
I do agree, though, that Trump is going after CA & India too hard lately.
The ban has to be on all imports otherwise it would be evaded using trans-shipment gimmicks.
The CCP is a really smart group of dudes, Doug.
America cares more about stuff than national security.
That’s why they’re bitching.
We are not so dumb either. They are not supermen.
I’m not saying they’re smarter than us, but they’re better at exploiting our weaknesses than we are at there’s, as far as I can tell based on “public” information.
There are a LOT more people doing Ecommerce and ordering a lot more than way in 2025 than there was in 2015 (thanks to Amazon prime/Walmart and other sites). My family probably gets 3/4 of their stuff from Ecommerce these days as opposed to maybe 10% or less in 2015. So that’s a huge reason why the number of packages has exploded.
The other reason of course is that ordering directly from a manufacturer is always cheaper than going through multiple middlemen (stores) so that’s the other big reason ordering online took off.
I expect this is not going to go over well with consumers if it creates a lot of hassle or an explosion in prices. It’s far more personally affecting that ‘steel tariffs’ that get hidden in prices or car tariffs people might have to pay once every 5 or 10 years.
Fair point.
I agree with your point, but 4 months into his TACO’s, it’s time for Trump to rip the band aid off. Without taking this step, he’s not applying the full leverage needed to get China to move towards a meaningful long-term deal.
As has been the case thus far, no one really knows how much these Chinese exporters can absorb of the tariffs by lowering prices. I know this much though. Most Americans searching for these types of lowest price deals won’t be able to absorb the full tariff, and China knows this.
Ultimately, I agree with PapaD’s point about this being a grand experiment. We both may disagree on what the potential outcomes will be. However, this was a necessary step to eventually make the US economy much less dependent on China for strategic goods.
My biggest complaint with Trump is not so much the process but the message. He should be talking about what the strategic goods are quite frequently.
Yep. Let the tariffs rip and roar. And when the pain gets to be too much; just blame Biden, or Obama, or Soros, or Santa. Which is what the Trump ass-kissers here do over and over again. It’s all pretty hilarious. (Though I admit that I have always admired Santa.)
I look forward to taking advantage of the situation, while the ass-kissers waste their time making excuses.
When the government needs money, it will figure out a way to collect it. Closing the De Minimus Tariff exemption is the least painless way to accomplish it.
Or could just tax the ultra wealthy. .
It’s the old tradeoff between resilience and efficiency. The efficiency argument was built on the free trade idea that the world is flat. That was yesterday. Today we need resiliency because the world has gotten really lumpy.
Well that tears it for a lot of folks.
Individual enterprise has been vanishing for close to 20 years already.
This should knock out a lot more of it.
As the geezer tsunami crests, it looks like dependence and austerity full speed ahead.
It’s not the end of the world yet.
We still have a lot to be thankful for.
Here’s an idea: now that we’re all poor because of the geezers. Why don’t we take their money? It’s not exactly like they’re going to be stopping anyone, watch as when this hits all of the older Gen X and above get thrown to the curb and stomped on it for good measure. Social security can go back to people who actually work.
Wonder what all is covered and how it works. I ordered an 20 pack of cr2032 batts on amz for 8 bucks. Think 2 in walmart were 4.50.
This is going to kill an entire species of small business in a matter of months and make the inflation situation so much worse almost instantly.
I can’t wait for the numbers next month to finally reflect recession just in time for the fed to cut rates in an entirely futile attempt to magically save jobs from this. If we can’t get this shit handled soon our nation’s economy will never recover. No customer base = no investment here and definitely no special treatment from anyone.
When China wants to hit Trump they target farmers. Farmers have targets on the backs. Instead of 1/3 customers, which have a few big customers, grow healthy food for the American consumers. Those who have only 1/3 customers can go bk fast. Those with 10/50 customers are protected in a downturn. That’s what the Resnicks, the biggest farmers in the US, are doing.
Instead of buying overseas new small mfg will flourish in the US.
At what cost to the consumer? Your comments suggest that you are as economically illiterate as Trump.
If u buy Gyokuro tea from Japan the biggest cost is shipping. If u buy EVOO
from Italy, the biggest cost is shipping. A few farmers start growing EVOO in
TX. Their EVOO is better and cheaper than the ones from Spain, Greece and Italy.
Well ca olive oil is twice as expensive as from italy
Labor is too high. D’oh.
Tell us how much will it affect you personally? I am curious.
You remain in stupid TWS Fantasyland
Trump Worship Syndrome
When did u grad from law school. Did u ever produce real stuff. Do u think that Mark Levin will reduce himself to debate your bs. U are Angora grad.
When u see ME u hit red. Plenty JNTS follow u. I am the most red. The pukers contribution is red, red ,red.
You’re a myopic zealot with daddy issues and too much time on your hands. One trick in a very shallow bag. Move on already.
What about LWS?
You’re making the heroic assumption that these new small manufacturers aren’t going to need materials produced in foreign countries.
This amounts to a massive increase in red tape for cross-border trade, which will … SURPRISE … hit small American businesses the hardest. And customs will have to hire thousands of additional workers, and new customs inspections and monitoring procedures will delay processing. Experts estimate that one day delay in customs processing is often equivalent to an ad valorem tax of 1-2 percent. It looks like Trump is an expert in administering negative supply shocks to the economy. I am sure Republicans are glad that they have been told to cancel town halls until Trump is out of office.
Why did the Congressional Republicans support repeal of the de minimus exemption?
Do they not care about their constituents?
This is a rhetorical question, yes?
de mini taxes will be implemented. Demand for inexpensive overseas packages will be drop. Shipping cost, a major cost, will fall. Walmart and Amazon will absorb the cost.
When I read your posts, I hear circus music.
skip !
it could be AU, artificial unintelligence.
Lay off the mushrooms.
Profit centers don’t absorb costs. They pass them along to the consumer, which is already happening. Keep trying. It’s amusing.
If u cut the biggest Cost center Profit can grow. Small packages biggest Cost are shipping and insurance. In some cases there are no return to the senders. If consumers will have more choices, if they can buy it from local mfg new small businesses will thrive.
Depends on the profit center. What profit centers generally do when faced with increased costs of a component they look for alternative suppliers. Some have in the past when the supply is no longer available at a reasonable cost set up their own supplier either themselves or with a partner. They do this because they have competitors and hesitate to “pass along the costs”.
Not to mention that because of international postal agreements the postal costs of sending and receiving of the packages cost the US Postal Service more than they took in in fees making us, the US taxpayer subventioning Chinese companies each time they use it. It was absurd. When the US stopped that from China the Chinese just used other countries postal services to ship the packages. Trump rightly cut that off. Since few here know the back story we get the usual ignorant comments.
Every Sun USPS trucks, 95% empty, deliver AMZN Prime, at taxpayers expense. My green tea was shipped from overseas by AMZN and delivered by Fedex. USPS, AMZN, USP and Fedex cannibalized each other.
And now we just need the usual clowns (Doug & Ben) to tell us that tariffs don’t cause inflation and the absurdity will be complete.
So let’s recap.
Lastly, Trump’s tax cuts may end up being inflationary too in 2026.
https://tipswatch.com/2025/08/30/an-inflation-surge-could-be-coming-in-early-2026/
Of course too much inflation may lead to an economic deflationary collapse so either way Trump & GOP will own this 100%. Enjoy your mess MAGA.
The sky is falling, better stay at home, don’t want to be going out among the MAGA people.
The only thing falling is Trump in the polls. Hugely deflationary!
Have you left yet? Have you bought your luxury underground bunker yet? You better hurry because according to you collapse is just around the corner. Some advice. When civilization has fallen alcohol and cigarettes will be better trade items than just about anything else so make sure there is lots of space in the bunker for them. Gold will be worthless.
As usual, you’re so out of touch boomer. Lots less people drinking and smoking.
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-alcohol-consumption-record-low-health-concerns-rise-survey-finds-2025-08-13/
Let me elucidate you. In a civilization crash people take up drinking and smoking to pass the pain. Those two items become the currency and gold becomes worthless because you can’t eat it, drink or smoke it. Look up the Siege of Sarajevo in ex-Yugoslavia 1992-1995 and do a little reading. Come back and we can discuss it.
There is nothing to discuss, I provided a link to an article that shows alcohol consumption is down. Zoomers and Millenials don’t want to consume alcohol. Your statement *might* be true with degenerate drunk boomers but who cares about them?
But there are whispers that your messiah and savior may link gold to bitcoin as a backdoor boost to treasuries.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siKfPK5jhtI
Watch the video and let me know if we can teach old dogs new tricks.
We are not in a civilizational collapse although you seem to think we are. Rules change. Here is a link for you. Get some knowledge for a change.
Blue Helmets and Black Markets: The Business of Survival in the Siege of Sarajevo 9780801443558, 2008013721 – DOKUMEN.PUB
tampons will be worth much more than simple booze or smokes. gold and silver have always been money in every century in every war and depression and falling empires………the current pax dumbfuckistan shit is nothing really new. idiocracy was a documentary. life on planet earth in 21st century is plush.
Also Q-tips, reading glasses, Ibuprofen, toilet paper, pen & paper, acoustic musical instruments, magnifying glass, binoculars, telescopes, bow and arrows, spears, knifes, guns and ammo and hundreds of other simple, modern day products that make life easier and bearable.
When countries collapse the price of rice, sugar, wheat, cigarettes and US dollar inflate.
I agree. Gold will be worthless.
Bullets, batteries, solar panels, & food, of course, will be currency.
HE’S NOT LEAVING. HE JUST MAKES THAT UP! HE LOVES AMERICA!
When candidate JFK proposed lowering the top tax bracket from 90 plus% to around 70%, Republicans opposed it and screamed it would be inflationary. Democrats laughed and told the Republicans to go hide in their fallout shelters.
I am waiting for Trump (or JD Vance at this point) to be giving this speech soon enough.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BVj2gT6CgI
JFK didn’t care about Midland TX oil crisis and banking crisis. He was blackmailed after taking a cut from “feeding the world” and sleeping with girls.
90% was marginal rates. actual tax as percentage of income hasn’t changed much in past century.
The Fed gives upWhat the Fed’s retreat tells us about the modern world
https://scottsumner.substack.com/p/the-fed-gives-up?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=2934833&post_id=171667222&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=3o9&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
Bye bye Alibaba Bubba!
My bike parts and bike tools from Taiwan and China already cost about 50% more. I doubt that the bicycle building industry will really take off in the United States even with a tariff.
Good thing our couches are already paid for.
Just have to keep shooing Vance away from them…
You would not want the Chinese to come to your door to repossess them?
Those bike mfg have a huge markup. They cost between $2K and $8K. It’s inelastic. Shipping cost is in the hundreds. Ironman income is high.
I don’t buy those expensive bikes. And buying a bike is very elastic for me.
Stata cruz anit cheap is it.
Don’t forget all the paraphernalia that comes with being a biker. All those come from Asia. Can’t bike unless you are dressed correctly.
I thought you lived in France?
How many people that bike there that “are dressed correctly” (I assume you mean the American paraphernalia of Boomer Lycra)
“Bwahahaha. Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?”
– Johnny Rotten
I hear Mr Rotten’s voice a few months after every inauguration.
Is Johnny Rotten in favor of the Minimus Tariff Exception?
Offhand, the closest Sex Pistols scripture relating to economy and geopolitical division is “Holidays in the Sun”. I think Mr. Rotten was mocking the wall and hence would probably mock these tariffs and thus favor the exemption at the very least.
I hear he turned very conservative in his old age and waves the Union Jack.
I always think of that great English 4 piece ensemble, THE WHO, ‘Wont get fooled again’
Or “Young Man’s Blues”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1CJuzpuca4
out here in the fields……..