Earlier this month, President Trump closed a long escape that had allowed by mail an avalanche of Chinese economic products to the United States without any tariff.
As of May 2, these packages faced a rate or 120 percent or a fixed rate of $ 100.
After the United States and China agreed this week a temporary truce in commercial tensions, that tariff is now 54 percent. The changes, which entered into force on Wednesday, were described in an executive order of the White House and the orientation of customs and border protection.
During the last decade, a fiscal escape known as the exemption of Minimis allowed goods of up to $ 800 to enter the United States without import tariffs. The result was that millions of packages are sent from China to the United States, since US buyers hooked to buy everything from flash impulses to water bottles at low prices.
Chinese companies like Shein and Temu built their businesses around the escape, sending products made in Chinese factories directly to US buyers. At the same time, China pushed its manufacturers to find buyers abroad.
Last year, almost four million packages a day entered the United States without customs inspection and without paid tasks, which angry American companies who said that the lagoon caused it to dissipate to compete.
Trump said the escape had created a route for chemicals involved in making fentanyl reach the United States from China because or limited controls in these packages.
According to the rules for minimis shipments, international mail package carriers can pay the 54 percent rate or the $ 100 rate per package. In practice, that means a pair of $ 10 load pants in it would be imposed $ 5.40 if the carrier chose the rate, but for a package with 25 pairs of cargo pants, it would be cheaper to pay the fixed rate. A warning: carriers must use that they choose, be it the rate or rate, in all the packages they send and can choose to change only once a month.
In 2023, the average value of a minimis package was $ 54, according to the testimony of the Congress of an United States Customs official.
It is likely that much of the additional cost resulting from the new rates falls into buyers. Tariffs on these shipments are also interrupting the global trade economy.
In Guangzhou, the Center for the Confection Industry of China, the owners and managers of Factories said that the clients were making feer orders due to the high prices.
Many said that the fall in orders and the general uncertainty generated by commercial tensions risked to make their businesses unsustainable. Some had closed their doors or hired less workers. Others packed their operations for other provinces or other countries, such as Vietnam, hoping to pay lower salaries and higher export tariffs.
The commercial war raises a particular challenge for China, where economic growth has been largely driven by exports in recent years. New export orders from China fell in April to its lowest level since 2022, in accordance with official data.
On Monday, the United States and China said they would reduce their respective tariffs for 90 days with the continuing negotiations, ending a confrontation that had stopped much of the trade between the two largest economies in the world.
