(Photo by Nikos Pekiaridis/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Brace for price increases, Temu shoppers. Following a temporary pause, President Trump is ready to close a loophole that Chinese e-commerce sites Temu, Shein, and AliExpress use to offer cheap products to US buyers.
On Thursday, the President signed an executive order to end the De Minimis Tax Exemption for products from China and Hong Kong. The exemption lets US consumers receive foreign packages duty-free as long as they're valued at under $800. But Trump plans to close the loophole on May 2 at 12:01 a.m. EST.
A White House fact sheet says that eligible packages will be tariffed at "either 30% of their value or $25 per item (increasing to $50 per item after June 1, 2025)." The good news is that the tariff amount replaces any other existing tariffs, so consumers shouldn’t face a double-whammy when Trump imposes a cumulative 54% tariff on most Chinese imports starting next week.
Trump tried to suspend the de minimis exemption in February, but the White House quickly put the effort on hold after the policy caused chaos at points of entry. The US Postal Service had to briefly stop accepting shipments from China and Hong Kong as it scrambled to collect tariffs on the packages. Meanwhile, other shipment providers slapped extra fees (from $20 to $100) on shipments from China, causing consumers to sour on purchases from Temu.
After giving the shipping industry time to prepare, the White House is now ready to reinstate the order. "The Secretary of Commerce has notified me that adequate systems are now in place to process and collect tariff revenue for covered goods from the PRC [People's Republic of China]," Trump's executive order says.
Temu didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. In the meantime, it’ll be hard for consumers to avoid Trump’s tariffs. On Thursday, the president announced a "reciprocal tariff" plan, which targets numerous countries—including Vietnam, Taiwan, India, and Malaysia—and placed another 34% tariff on imports from China. For now, Trump has exempted semiconductors from the reciprocal tariff policy.