"A few years ago, I found the perfect rug for my daughter's room. It had pink unicorns and flowers. But I scoffed at the price tag on Anthropologie's website: more than $1,000, plus an additional fee for "white glove delivery." Then I fired up Etsy. I found a similar product made by a workshop in India that shipped directly from there. It took weeks to arrive, but it was half the price."
"That's because President Donald Trump ended the de minimis exemption on imported goods, a loophole that allowed millions of daily packages to enter the country without paying duties. The exemption has been around for a long time-nearly a century-but it took on new import (get it?) in 2016, when the maximum value for untaxed goods rose from $200 to $800. In that moment, the social-media-driven rise of direct-to-consumer e-commerce, drop-shipping, and online-marketplace sales were also accelerating."
"The de minimis loophole is a big reason e-commerce sites including Shein and Temu could sell you things for so cheap: They shipped straight from China, skirting any tariffs. The White House ended the exemption for goods from China earlier this year, and now de minimis is ending for all countries. That means that many things you might import could become more expensive (on account of the additional taxes) or harder to buy (because sellers won't bother shipping to the U.S.)."
Online shopping enabled consumers to buy affordable goods from global sellers shipped directly to their doors. The de minimis exemption allowed low-value imports to enter without duties and rose from $200 to $800 in 2016, fueling direct-to-consumer e-commerce, drop-shipping, and marketplace growth. Ending the de minimis exemption removes that tax-free threshold, first for goods from China and now for all countries. The change will raise prices on many imported items, prompt some sellers to stop shipping to the U.S., and create customs delays. The rug from India that once cost half as much would now face about a 50 percent import duty.
Read at The Atlantic
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