President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed new trade restrictions that will end duty-free treatment for small packages from all countries, expanding his administration’s crackdown on what officials call an exploited shipping loophole.
The executive order will implement new tariffs starting August 29 on imported goods valued at $800 or less, regardless of origin. This broadens earlier restrictions that Trump placed specifically on shipments from China and Hong Kong in May.
Under the new rules, postal shipments will face tariffs calculated according to package value and the nation where they originated, according to administration officials.
The de minimis exemption had allowed packages valued under $800 to bypass traditional customs procedures and tariffs. More than four million packages entered the US each day under this exemption (1.36 billion a year) before recent restrictions began.
Online retailers like Temu and Shein had leveraged the loophole to ship products directly from overseas to American consumers at ultra-low prices, undercutting US-based retailers.
Trump administration officials argue the exemption enabled drug trafficking, particularly fentanyl shipments, by overwhelming customs officials with massive volumes of small packages. According to White House data, such shipments have surged to 309 million packages in the current fiscal year, nearly tripling from 115 million in the previous year.
The president first targeted Chinese shipments in February, though implementation challenges forced a brief reinstatement before the restrictions took permanent effect on May 2. Chinese goods now face duties of up to 54% of their value.
Read: End of De Minimis Exemption Reshapes US-China Trade Dynamics
The changes will increase prices for American shoppers, particularly those with lower incomes who rely on cheap overseas goods. Research from the National Bureau of Economic Research estimates the restrictions could cost American consumers between $10.9 billion and $13 billion annually in higher prices.
The Senate has separately passed legislation that would permanently end the de minimis exemption for all commercial shipments by July 2027, codifying the restrictions into law if approved by the House.
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