President Donald Trump has temporarily paused measures to close a tariff exemption on low-cost shipments from China while officials figure out how to tax the millions of packages that arrive in the US every day.
In an amendment to an executive order signed on Wednesday and published late on Friday, the White House said the so-called de minimis provision — which exempts shipments under $800 in value from tariffs and rigorous customs checks — would remain in place until “adequate systems are in place to fully and expediently process and collect tariff revenue”.
The de minimis provision was designed to help households and small businesses purchase low-cost items from abroad without making them subject to onerous customs checks. In recent years, it has proved a boon to ecommerce platforms that ship directly to consumers, such as China’s Shein and Temu.