(Reuters) United States will reduce the “minimis” tariff for low -value shipments from China to a minimum of 30%, according to an executive order of the White House and experts in the industry, further decalrating a potentially harmful commercial war between the two largest economies in the world.
The order published late Monday offers some relief to the great actors of Chinese electronic commerce, Shein and Temu, and follows a weekend agreement between Beijing and Washington to relax for 90 days the majority of reciprocal tariffs imposed on the products of each since the beginning of April.
Although subsequent conversations in Geneva did not mention the rights of Minimis, President Donald Trump announced that the levies for direct postal shipments to the consumer will be reduced from 120% to 54% for items with a value of up to 800 dollars, starting Wednesday. A fixed alternative rate of 100 dollars per postal package is maintained, but the increase planned to 200 dollars for June 1 was canceled.
There are different rules for packages managed by commercial delivery companies such as United Parcel Service, Fedex and DHL, which sent millions of Shein and TeMU packages before Trump ended the tax free status for Chinese shipments valued by less than $ 800.
The rate for these packages is now established by default in the reduced American tariff from 30% to 145% for Chinese imports, two shipments experts told Reuters on condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisals.
The 30% rate reflects the Trump administration decision to reduce the “reciprocal” tariff rate of 145% to 10%, plus a separate 20% tariff related to the fentanyl crisis in the United States.
The White House and the Office of the United States Commercial Representative did not immediately respond to a request for clarification.
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Commercial representative Jamieson Greer told CNBC on Tuesday that the 10% global tariff rate would probably remain in force to help rebuild the United States manufacturing base.
Collection difficulties
Commercial carriers generally charge tariffs on sellers in China before shipping, but the United States postal service is not trained to manage tariff collection. Four sources informed Reuters that most of the shipments of Temu and Shein are managed by commercial carriers.
Many consumer goods from China in the commercial channel will continue to subject to much higher taxes under previous commercial measures or national security sector investigations. For example, syringes and surgical gloves are subject to 100% tariffs under a commercial measure of section 301 of the US.
One of the shipments experts said, however, that if they are sent by postal mail in amounts valued in less than $ 800, they could reach the United States for only 100 dollars, or an effective rate of 12.5%.
In February, Trump ended the exemption of minimis and imposed different rules for packages managed by postal services or commercial delivery companies, blaming the exemption to allow an avalanche of shipments of Chinese electronic commerce companies and fentanyl traffickers and other illicit goods.
The number of shipments that enter the US through the tax free channel shot in recent years, with more than 90% of the packages from the minimis road. Of these, around 60% came from China, led by direct sales retailers such as Temu and Shein.
According to the testimony of a customs customs officer and border protection before Congress in 2024, the average value of a minimis shipment during fiscal year 2023 was only 54 dollars.
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Chinese retail retailers Shein, who are considering quoting in the London Stock Exchange, and PDD Holdings Temu, as well as their American rival Amazon did not immediately respond to requests for comments.
China exported 240,000 million dollars in direct consumption goods that benefited from the minimis worldwide last year, which represents 7% of its sales abroad and contributes 1.3% of GDP, according to Nomura estimates.
Jianlong Hu, executive director of Brands Factory, a Chinese cross -border electronic commerce, said a 54% tariff was still very high.
Sellers are probably adopting an expectant attitude, but in general I think it is fair to say that the golden age of the sending of small packages from China to the US has already passed.
Shein is more exposed to minimal changes due to its speed dependence to get thousands of new styles every week to Western consumers by air than other brands such as Temu.
Shein could still be an actor who wanted to send some packages from China and pay the 54% tariff instead of importing them all by boat, Hu said. “If people buy clothes in Shein and tell him that the product will arrive a month later, who will buy it?”
Escape
The Chinese yuan jumped a maximum of six months against the dollar this Tuesday, adding to a global rebound of more risky assets after the broader commercial agreement between Beijing and Washington
Trump’s global commercial war, which destroyed the manuals that have governed international trade for decades, has shaken the financial markets and increased the fears of a recession.
The minimis rule of the United States, which dates back to 1938, has been subject to growing criticism by Democratic and Republican legislators as a legal vacuum that allows Chinese products to avoid US tariffs and the illegal and precursors of the fentanilo enter the United States without control, as confirmed by a reuters report.
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