De Minimis Suspended: What It Means for Small Importers

The de minimis exemption under 19 USC 1321 allows importers to bring goods into the United States without paying customs duties or MPF if the goods are valued at $800 or less. The $800 threshold was raised from $200 in 2016 and had been a significant advantage for e-commerce businesses shipping directly from overseas warehouses to US consumers. Under de minimis, packages valued below $800 entered the US as "informal entries" — a simplified customs process with minimal documentation and no duty payment. This enabled the rise of direct-to-consumer e-commerce platforms like Temu, Shein, and AliExpress, which shipped individual orders (typically $20-200) directly from Chinese warehouses to US addresses without paying any import duties. The scale of de minimis usage became enormous. In fiscal year 2023, CBP processed approximately 1 billion de minimis shipments, up from 140 million in 2015. The estimated revenue foregone by the US Treasury from de minimis exemptions was $8-10 billion annually. The exemption functionally allowed Chinese e-commerce platforms to compete with US retailers on an unlevel playing field — no duties, minimal labor protections verification, and minimal product safety oversight. The de minimis exemption was also used extensively by Amazon FBA sellers, eBay merchants, and other small importers to ship samples, test orders, and small-volume inventory without the cost and complexity of formal entry. For small importers, de minimis was a meaningful operating advantage.

The de minimis exemption was suspended effective February 24, 2026 — the same date Section 122 took effect. The administration's executive order suspended de minimis for ALL countries, not just China. Every package entering the United States, regardless of value, is now subject to US customs duties and MPF. The suspension was implemented under IEEPA authority — the same legal basis that was struck down by the Supreme Court on February 20, 2026. The four-day window between the IEEPA ruling and the de minimis suspension means the suspension may be legally vulnerable to the same constitutional challenge. As of March 2026, litigation challenging the de minimis suspension is pending in federal courts. Despite the legal uncertainty, CBP is currently enforcing the suspension. Packages arriving from all countries, including Canada, Mexico, and USMCA-exempt shipments (though USMCA treatment creates separate de minimis-like provisions for qualifying goods), are subject to formal or informal entry requirements with duty payment. The practical challenge: CBP processes millions of small packages per day. Formal entry for a $50 package is administratively impractical. CBP has implemented an expedited informal entry process for low-value shipments, but the fees and processing times have increased substantially. Many international carriers and postal operators have suspended direct-to-consumer shipments while compliance infrastructure is built out.

The de minimis suspension has materially disrupted the business model of direct-to-consumer e-commerce platforms that relied on duty-free small-package imports. Temu, which built its US business model on de minimis-exempt shipments from Chinese warehouses, announced in February 2026 that it was pausing new US orders while evaluating the regulatory change. Temu's average order value of $25-35 would now incur duties at the applicable tariff rate (Chinese goods: MFN + S122 + applicable S301) plus MPF (minimum $33.58 per entry). On a $30 order, MPF alone ($33.58 minimum) exceeds the order value, making the economics unworkable. Shein faces similar economics but has partially responded by establishing US domestic inventory at warehouses in New Jersey and California, shipping orders from domestic stock. Goods in US warehouses have already cleared customs — the duties were paid when they were imported as bulk commercial shipments rather than individual consumer orders. The trade-off: longer lead times before popular items arrive in US stock, and higher inventory costs. AliExpress's impact is more complex because it hosts third-party sellers, some of whom are US-based. US-based sellers shipping domestic goods face no change. Foreign sellers shipping directly to US consumers face the full impact of de minimis suspension. Amazon's direct import program (where Amazon itself imports goods from overseas suppliers) continues normally — Amazon was already paying duties on commercial bulk imports. The impact is on Amazon third-party marketplace sellers who were importing direct-to-consumer.

Amazon FBA sellers who imported small shipments duty-free under de minimis have lost a significant cost advantage. The most affected sellers are those who: imported goods from China in small test shipments to evaluate demand before ordering in bulk; sent individual customer orders directly from Chinese suppliers without going through a US warehouse (merchant fulfilled, not FBA); or operated near the $800 threshold to maximize de minimis use. For FBA sellers who import in bulk commercial shipments (standard pallets or containers to Amazon fulfillment centers), the de minimis change has minimal direct impact. Those shipments were already subject to formal entry requirements regardless of individual package value. The change affects informal entry — small-value individual shipments, not large commercial imports. The indirect impact: Chinese competitors who used de minimis to compete with US FBA sellers now face the same duty burden. A Chinese seller shipping a $40 toy directly to a US consumer previously paid zero duties. Now that toy faces MFN (~0-3%) + S122 (15%) + S301 (7.5% for List 4A consumer goods) = approximately 25% tariff on $40 = $10 in duties, plus MPF minimum $33.58 per entry. This makes direct-from-China individual orders economically unviable for low-price products. For US-based FBA sellers who import from China in bulk, the de minimis suspension actually improves their competitive position relative to Chinese direct sellers, since both now face the full tariff burden.

Importers who relied on de minimis treatment should restructure their import operations for the post-suspension environment. Option 1: Shift to bulk imports with formal entry. Instead of many small shipments, consolidate orders into larger commercial shipments. A $10,000 bulk import pays MPF of $34.64 (single entry). The same goods in 100 separate $100 packages would pay $3,358 in MPF alone (100 entries × $33.58 minimum). Bulk importing dramatically reduces per-unit fees. Option 2: Use a Section 321 Type 86 entry. CBP's Type 86 entry was designed for e-commerce and allows informal entry for goods up to $800 — but this was itself predicated on the de minimis threshold. The legal status of Type 86 in a de minimis suspended environment is uncertain. Option 3: Pre-position inventory in US warehouses. Import goods in bulk to a US third-party logistics (3PL) warehouse, then fulfill domestic orders from US stock. This converts overseas-ship-to-consumer into domestic distribution, eliminating per-shipment customs requirements. Option 4: Re-source from USMCA countries. For goods where production is viable in Mexico or Canada, USMCA-qualifying goods eliminate virtually all tariff and de minimis concerns. Production economics and lead times must be evaluated against tariff savings. The legal challenge to the de minimis suspension may restore the exemption if courts rule the February 2026 suspension was beyond IEEPA authority (which the Supreme Court has already curtailed). Importers should monitor litigation developments but plan for the suspension to remain in effect indefinitely.