U.S. De Minimus Exemption for Commercial Goods Ends

*Updated August 28, 2025:

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has provided the following guidance to the trade on the suspension of duty-free de minimis treatment for all countries:

Pursuant to the Executive Order (EO) “Suspending Duty-Free De Minimis Treatment for All Countries,” issued on July 30, 2025, goods of all countries entering the United States will no longer be eligible for the administrative exemption from duty and certain tax at 19 U.S.C. § 1321(a)(2)(C) effective 12:01a.m. ET on Aug. 29. Accordingly, all goods not identified in 50 U.S.C. 1702(b) may not receive so-called “de minimis” clearance to enter duty and tax free regardless of their value, country of origin, mode of transportation, or method of entry, CBP said.

As of Aug. 29, requests for de minimis entry and clearance for ineligible shipments will be rejected. Specifically, CBP will enact the following changes in ACE:

ACE will reject all Section 321 manifest filings submitted via electronic data interchange (EDI).
CBP will remove the option to file Section 321 manifests in the Truck Manifest Trade Portal.
ACE will reject all entry type 86 cargo release EDI transactions.

CBP said updates to the applicable manifest and cargo release implementation guides are forthcoming and will be available on CBP’s ACE CATAIR webpage.

Starting Aug. 29, filers will be required to submit an appropriate formal or informal entry type filed in ACE, except for shipments sent through the international postal network, along with payment of all applicable duties, taxes, and fees. Paper informal entries for goods subject to this EO are not permitted.

For shipments sent through the international postal network that previously qualified for the administrative exemption under 19 U.S.C. § 1321(a)(2)(C), no entry will be prepared until CBP establishes a new process that is published in the Federal Register. For all such postal shipments, the transportation carriers delivering the shipments to the U.S., or other qualified parties acting in lieu of such transportation carriers, must collect and remit duties to CBP based on one of two methodologies:

Detailed guidance on shipments entering via international mail can be found at:

FAQs regarding the requirements of this Executive Order are available here.

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President Trump signed an Executive Order this afternoon that effectively ends the de minimis exemption for commercial shipments, effective 12:01 a.m. ET, August 29, 2025. Thus, “imported goods sent through means other than the international postal network that are valued at or under $800 and that would otherwise qualify for the de minimis exemption will be subject to all applicable duties,” the Executive Order said.

Here are additional details in the Executive Order regarding de minimis:

For goods shipped through the international postal system, packages will instead be assessed duties according to one of the following methodologies:

· Ad valorem duty: A duty equal to the effective tariff rate imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) that is applicable to the country of origin of the product. This duty shall be assessed on the value of each package.

· Specific duty: A duty ranging from $80 per item to $200 per item, depending on the effective IEEPA tariff rate applicable to the country of origin of the product. The specific duty methodology will be available for six months, after which all applicable shipments must comply with the ad valorem duty methodology.

Longstanding exemptions under 19 U.S.C. 1321(a)(2)(A) and (B) remain in place – meaning American travelers can still bring back up to $200 in personal items and individuals can continue to receive bona fide gifts valued at $100 or less duty-free.

“President Trump is putting an end to the proliferation of shippers worldwide that, among other things, deceptively exploit the de minimis privilege in an effort to evade duties, inspection, and U.S. law,” the Executive Order said.

Read the entire Executive Order here. Here is the Fact Sheet.

This EO modifies the EOs from February and April regarding the elimination of the de minimis first for China and Hong Kong and then from other countries once the Secretary of Commerce notified the President that adequate systems are in place to fully and expeditiously process and collect duties for goods previously entered under the de minimis $800 provision. The President amends the EOs on Mexico, Canada, China, and Hong Kong individually to remove de minimis and to suspend it for all other countries as well.

Low value shipments will still be allowed, but all shipments will have to pay duties (thus enter either under an informal (Type 11) entry or a formal (Type 01) entry). What is notable in this EO is that CBP may require that you have a bond for informal entries valued at or less than $2,500.

For goods shipped via the international postal system, they will have to pay either (1) the applicable IEEPA reciprocal duty rate, or (2) a per package fee based on a country’s applicable IEEPA reciprocal tariff. If the IEEPA reciprocal tariff is less than 16% the per package rate will be $80. If it is between 16-25%, the per package rate will be $160 and if it is greater than 25%, the rate will be $200.

However, option 2, paying the flat per package rate is only available for the first six months. After such time, ALL shipments will have to pay the applicable IEEPA reciprocal duty rate.

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As soon as CBP Guidance in the way of a Federal Register or CSMS is made available, we will update this page.