Proposed new de minimis rules could see countries paying different tariffs for their imports into the US – with some denied the privilege altogether. 

The current de minimis threshold for imports into the US is $800, increased from $200 in 2016 with the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act. This is the world’s largest threshold –π for example, across European Union member states it is €150 ($160.83).  

US lawmakers have been looking to change the de minimis rules for the past few years, particularly driven by the tsunami of low-value e-commerce imports from China that fly under the tax threshold. According to the Wall Street Journal, de minimis entries to the US represent roughly $67bn in lost tax. 

The Americas Act (AA), formally proposed by Republican congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar on 6 March, offers a roadmap to new de minimis rules.  

The act promises to offer $14bn to the domestic textile manufacturing sector to incentivise near-shoring, which the commissioners who presented the AA suggested could be funded by more tax revenue from proposed de minimis rate changes.  

-US plans new import tax thresholds ‘to close loopholes exploited by China’| The Loadstar

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