U.S. Customs and Border Protection Revises De Minimis Entry Rules for Packages Under $800
September 9, 2025
We are writing with an important update if you transport low-value packages to the United States. On July 30, 2025, the Trump Administration issued an executive order titled “Suspending Duty-Free De Minimis Treatment for all Countries,” E.O. 14324. The order suspends the $800 exemption to import duties for packages, effective August 29, 2025, and sets up a new process for calculating, collecting, reporting, and remitting duties owing on packages shipped to the United States via international mail. These packages previously were able to be transported duty-free, so these changes have raised some questions from our clients.
Under the new process, carriers or other qualified parties are responsible for calculating, collecting, reporting, and remitting duties on dutiable international mail items they ship or transport. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) guidance on calculating duty rates and certain responsibilities applicable to carriers or other qualified parties is available here.
Dutiable items (including most low-value packages) are subject to either a specific duty or an ad valorem duty (a percentage duty on each item that is equal to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (“IEEPA”) tariff rate of the country of origin). The specific duty ranges from:
-
$80 for items from countries of origin with an effective IEEPA rate of less than 16 percent;
-
$160 for items from countries of origin with an effective IEEPA rate between 16 and 25 percent; or
-
$200 for items from countries of origin with an effective IEEPA rate above 25 percent.
Eckert Seamans can advise on any questions about an applicable IEEPA rate. The option to pay the specific duty will be available until February 28, 2026, after which time only the ad valorem option will be available. Shipments of low-value packages not made via the international postal network will be subject to the same duties as other commercial shipments.
The increased duties are expected especially to impact the sales of e-commerce retailers that ship packages directly to U.S. customers, who now face higher prices for imported items. Uncertainty about the new processes for collecting and remitting duties have also led some carriers and international postal services to temporarily suspend shipments to the United States, causing some delays in international mail delivery and disrupting supply chains.
If you have any questions regarding the above new processes, please contact us.
Click here to view a downloadable PDF of the legal update.
This Infrastructure and Transportation Update is intended to keep readers current on developments in the law. It is not intended to be legal advice. If you have any questions, please contact Evelyn Sahr at 202.659.6622 (esahr@eckertseamans.com), Scott Phillips at 202.659.6689 (sphillips@eckertseamans.com), any member of our Infrastructure and Transportation Group, or any other attorney at Eckert Seamans with whom you have been working.
Share This Post
Authors
