The move came several hours after Beijing and Washington agreed a 90-day pause in their tariff war to unwind most of the tariffs imposed on each other’s goods since early April – following two days of bilateral trade talks in Geneva.
Although their joint statement in Geneva didn’t mention the “de minimis” duties, the White House order released later said such levies will be more than halved but that a flat fee of US$100 will remain, starting from Wednesday.
The “de minimis’ rule, taken from the Latin phrase for “of little importance”, is a century-old trade exemption rule created in the United States that allows small parcels valued at less than US$800 to enter the country duty-free and with minimal inspections.
In February, US President Donald Trump moved to end the rule by imposing a tax of 120 percent of the value of any package coming from China or a planned flat fee of US$200 – set to come into effect by June.
Trump earlier blamed the “de minimis” exemption for being heavily used by mainland firms such as Shein and Temu as well as traffickers of fentanyl and other illicit goods.
Under the new executive order, such duties will be more than halved, but the alternative flat fee will be kept at US$100, starting from Wednesday. And the change will be applied to shipments sent from the mainland, Hong Kong and Macau.
The change was made after Trump hailed a “total reset” in relations between the United States and China, as the two countries agreed to reduce their total tariffs on each other by 115 percentage points to 30 percent and 10 percent respectively.
