CBP has added more parties to the list of those qualified to collect and pay duties on international mail following the end of the de minimis exemption on Aug. 29, under a July 30 executive order.
A year after the U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission recommended that de minimis be terminated, and that normal trading relations with China be terminated, only one of its top 10 recommendations was about the treatment of imports. Its annual report for 2025 recommends that Congress ban the import of energy storage systems that have remote monitoring capabilities, if they are made by Chinese companies or their technology was licensed by Chinese companies. Most utility-scale storage batteries are lithium-ion, and 80% of those batteries are made in China.
The Council of the European Union agreed Nov. 13 to eliminate its de minimis provision, through which goods worth under $174 could enter the EU without customs duties being paid. The council said the new rule will start applying once the EU customs data hub is running, which is expected to be in 2028, since the hub is "currently under negotiation between the Council and the European Parliament as part of a broader fundamental reform of the EU customs framework." The customs data hub will allow for calculation and notification of customs debt on a "per-item basis." To facilitate a speedier implementation of the end of the de minimis provision, however, the council said it committed to work toward a "simple, temporary solution" to impose duties on goods under the de minimis threshold by 2026. No further specifics were provided.
EPA plans to amend a regulation for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) by allowing certain exemptions to the scope of reporting PFAS, according to a Federal Register notice.
As companies navigate the increasingly complex U.S. trade landscape, companies should "shift left" and adjust their trade compliance strategies so that potential compliance issues are caught upstream in areas such as sales, procurement and development before hitting the duty filing stage, a software developer said at the International Compliance Professionals Association conference in Grapevine, Texas, on Oct. 27.
The Court of International Trade on Oct. 20 denied importer Detroit Axle's motion to lift the stay of its case contesting President Donald Trump's decision to end the de minimis threshold for goods from China. In a text-only order, the trade court said the company's motion for partial summary judgment is stayed pending resolution of V.O.S. Selections v. Donald J. Trump, the lead case on whether Trump can use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose tariffs, which is currently being briefed before the Supreme Court (Axle of Dearborn d/b/a Detroit Axle v. United States, CIT # 25-00091).
RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. -- As increased trade enforcement, the federal government shutdown and efforts to hunt down counterfeit goods and illegal drugs dominate today’s headlines, so are these circumstances impacting the ports on the West Coast, according to panelists at last week’s Western Cargo Conference.
Sen. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, asked Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to defend his assessment that "adequate systems were in place to 'fully and expeditiously process and collect duties for articles otherwise eligible for duty-free de minimis treatment on a global basis'" by July 30.
Rep. Stacey Plaskett, D-V.I., said her home territory, along with Guam, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands, are facing shipping problems due to the end of de minimis, even though the Virgin Islands and those other territories aren't part of the Customs Zone.
The ACE certification environment has a new functionality that increases the maximum number of entry summaries on a statement from 2,000 to 9,999, CBP said in a recent cargo systems message.