The end of de minimis: a timeline

The $800 exemption didn't vanish overnight — it died in stages over 2025. Here's the chronology, and what each step changed at your door.

Before 2025: the $800 era

The Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 (signed 2016) raised the de minimis threshold from $200 to $800. Cross-border e-commerce exploded: by fiscal 2024, de minimis shipments exceeded 1.3 billion parcels — roughly 4 million a day — and CBP repeatedly told Congress it could not meaningfully inspect them.

May 2, 2025 — China and Hong Kong first

Citing the fentanyl supply chain under IEEPA authority, the administration suspended de minimis for goods from China and Hong Kong. The effect was immediate: Temu and Shein raised US prices and rerouted inventory to US warehouses, and postal traffic from China dropped sharply within weeks. For shoppers, "duty-free from China" ended here — four months before the rest of the world.

July–August 2025 — the global suspension

A July 30, 2025 executive order suspended de minimis for all countries, effective August 29, 2025. Postal operators worldwide briefly suspended US-bound merchandise services while they built duty-collection workflows; most resumed within weeks under new "postal duty" arrangements. From this date, every commercial parcel — a £30 book, a €20 skincare order — became formally dutiable.

Late 2025 — the fee machinery catches up

CBP shifted low-value parcels into informal-entry processing, applying the MPF ($2.69+ per entry) and, for postal items, the dutiable-mail fee. Carriers published revised brokerage schedules for the surge of newly dutiable small parcels — the origin of today's USPS flat $9.35 and courier disbursement fees.

2026 — the overlay era

With the threshold gone, country-of-origin surcharges became the main event. The Section 301 Forced Labor action (July 24, 2026) added 10% (or 12.5% net of MFN) across a long list of economies including the UK, EU, Japan, and Korea — on top of the existing China stack (IEEPA Fentanyl 10% + Section 301 25%). Duty is no longer an edge case; it is the default cost of buying abroad.

Track what's next

The open question is whether Congress or the courts restore any threshold — we track that in will de minimis come back? For what the new regime costs on your specific purchase, run the calculator.

FAQs

When did de minimis end for Temu and Shein orders?

May 2, 2025 — the China/Hong Kong suspension. Both platforms responded by shifting to US-warehouse fulfillment or baking duties into checkout prices.

Was there a transition period for parcels already in transit?

CBP honored the exemption for shipments that entered before each effective date. Parcels arriving after the cutoff were assessed duty regardless of when they shipped.