Chinese parcels that Trump wants to tariff are already falling
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The trade in small packages has boomed in recent years as US consumers took advantage of low-cost shopping apps such as Shein and Temu to use the loophole.
PHOTO: AFP
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BEIJING – Chinese companies cut back on the small packages they shipped to the US in February, as US President Donald Trump looks to close off trading and impose tariffs on all imports from China.
In February, the value of the small packages that were shipped from China to the US fell by almost 5 per cent from a year earlier, according to data released on March 20 by the Customs authorities in Beijing.
The drop came after the Trump administration threw trading into chaos with the sudden announcement in early February that it would act to impose a levy on all goods coming from China and end the loophole that allows items with a declared value under US$800 (S$1,068) to enter the US tariff-free.
The slump was likely even more pronounced when adjusted for the effect of an earlier-than-usual Chinese New Year holiday, which fell entirely on February in 2024.
The value of parcels in February 2025 declined relative to a month when many factories and companies are on holiday for more than a week.
The first two months of 2025 saw US$3.5 billion worth of parcels shipped to the US from China, just 2.3 per cent higher than in the same period in 2024.
The trade of small packages has boomed in recent years as US consumers took advantage of low-cost shopping apps such as Shein and Temu to benefit from the loophole.
The Trump administration said it was ending such practice but then suspended that ruling.
The US government is expected to cancel the so-called “de minimis” exemption eventually, once the authorities develop the capacity to process the almost four million packages that arrived every day in 2024.
In total, an estimated 1.4 billion de minimis shipments entered the US in 2024, with many likely coming from China.
China officially reported about US$23 billion of such exports in 2024 – half the amount estimated by economists at Nomura Holdings.
While de minimis shipments led to significant savings on some consumer goods for US buyers, JPMorgan Chase & Co estimates the tariff exemption also likely resulted in up to US$7 billion in uncollected duties. BLOOMBERG
