WASHINGTON — The president of the United States, Donald Trump, celebrated this Thursday the ruling of a US court that maintains the tariffs on “de minimis” shipments of low-value goods imposed as part of his aggressive trade policy.
“Great victory today in the US Court of International Trade against one of the most reprehensible legal loopholes in US trade policy: the so-called ‘de minimis’ exemption!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social network.
The ruling issued today by the court dismissed the challenge raised by an importer against the suspension of exemptions that Trump himself implemented through two executive orders last year.
Before this, the United States had suspended payment of customs duties on these shipments, generally worth less than $800, for more than a century.
Legal loophole
“For years, foreign shippers were able to send packages valued at up to $800 to our country duty-free, with no tariffs, and with much less oversight. It became a major loophole for those who evade tariffs, as well as an avenue exploited by fentanyl traffickers, counterfeiters, and other criminals to smuggle dangerous and illegal products into the United States,” Trump added.
The president assures in his message that, in 2024 alone, the exemption of “de minimis” shipments cost the country “about 10.8 billion dollars in forgone tariff revenue.”
In this way, the court maintains in force the charges activated by Trump, which currently range between 10 and 12.5% for these shipments depending on their country of origin.
The measure has serious repercussions for electronic commerce, especially for the Chinese platforms Temu and Shein.
Shein in fall
The current state of the accounts and businesses of the popular ‘fast fashion’ platform Shein would support a valuation of between 22,000 and 25,000 million dollars before its anticipated IPO, which represents a collapse of up to 78% with respect to its maximum estimate, registered in 2022.
The consulting firm Bloomberg Intelligence (BI), affiliated with the Bloomberg news agency, disclosed that evaluation, based on multiplying between 13 and 15 times the company’s projected profits in 2027, since this year’s accounts will be weighed down by the impact of tariffs and logistical disruptions.
This estimate, however, contrasts not only with the aforementioned figure for 2022, which was estimated at about 100,000 million dollars, but also with other more recent ones that already placed it between 40,000 and 50,000 million.
In addition, it would be below the $30 billion targeted by some of the investors who are interested in the imminent IPO of Shein, which is expected to begin trading between September and October in Hong Kong after years of ups and downs, frustrated plans in New York and London and international controversies.
