The situation around the ‘de minimis’ regulations into the US has suddenly become complicated. The presumption up until last week was that the new Trump administration in the White House had acted strongly against the use of de minimis regulations by Chinese e-retailers, not least as one element of the trade policies aimed against China.
It appears that reality has imposed itself on this policy, for the statement issued on the 5 February in-fact reads that “duty-free de minimis……shall cease to be available for such articles upon notification by the Secretary of Commerce to the President that adequate systems are in place to fully and expediently process and collect tariff revenue applicable”. This seems to be a clear statement that in practice US Customs cannot levy tariffs on small items moving through the international mail network because it lacks ability to do so. Effectively the United States Postal System had confirmed this policy when it reversed the ban on packages from China and Hong Kong. In a statement issued on the 5th, the USPS asserted that “the Postal Service will continue accepting all international inbound mail and packages from China and Hong Kong Posts. The USPS and Customs and Border Protection are working closely together to implement an efficient collection mechanism for the new China tariffs to ensure the least disruption to package delivery”. This was a day after announcing that it would refuse to accept mail and packages from Hong Kong and China.
The unstated but strong implication of these statements and policy positions is that if the US wants to restrict the use, or indeed the abuse, of de minimis, it is going to have to develop some sort of method of doing so, presumably by using technology capable of finding-out what is in a specific parcel. It might be reasonable to suggest that this could take a considerable amount of time. In the meantime, presumably, there will be considerable relief amongst e-retailers who source their product in China and sell it in the US.
This somewhat eccentric situation does ask questions about the level of control that Customs exercise over cross-border freight.
Author: Thomas Cullen
Source: Ti Insight
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