On July 30, the White House released a Fact Sheet and Executive Order (EO) announcing the elimination of de minimis for all countries, effective August 29, due to a national emergency with respect to threats to national security, foreign policy and the economy of the U.S.
Low value shipments will still be allowed, but all shipments will have to pay duties, either under an informal (Type 11) entry or a formal (Type 01) entry. Notably, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) may require that you have a bond for informal entries valued at or less than $2,500.
For goods shipped via the international postal system, importers will have to pay either
(1) the applicable IEEPA reciprocal duty rate or
- If the IEEPA reciprocal tariff is less than 16% the per package rate will be $80.
- If the IEEPA reciprocal tariff is between 16-25%, the per package rate will be $160.
- If the IEEPA reciprocal tariff is greater than 25%, the per package rate will be $200.
(2) a per package fee based on a country's applicable IEEPA reciprocal tariff
- This option is only available for the first six months. After such time, all shipments will have to pay the applicable IEEPA reciprocal duty rate.
Further, the EO references an earlier EO on stacking of tariffs.
Interestingly, the EO states that if any of the tariffs issued under the previous International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) EO's that are being challenged in court are deemed to be invalid, the suspension of, or continued suspension of duty free de minimis treatment should not be affected. It appears the President is attempting to retroactively separate the de minimis provision from the tariff issues, despite the court in the Detroit Axle case finding that the IEEPA tariffs and the de minimis prohibition were intertwined and could not be separated.
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