China’s e-commerce shipments will lose U.S. tariff protection under the proposed bill. One sponsor said a bipartisan group of U.S. congressmen would present a bill on Wednesday to repeal a tariff exemption used by e-commerce firms to ship orders from China to U.S. buyers.
The de minimis rule exempts individual consumer imports under $800 from taxes. Republican Senator Plan Cassidy claimed the plan would instantly block Chinese shipments.
The exemption benefits internet retailers, including China-founded, Singapore-based Shein and Temu, a rival controlled by PDD Holdings Inc (PDD.O) that controls Pinduoduo. In April, a federal brief stated the enterprises “exploit” de minimis to dodge customs and import illicit goods from China’s Xinjiang province with forced Uyghur labor.
Xinjiang has no Shein manufacturers, a spokeswoman said Tuesday. Temu didn’t comment right away.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission claimed that de minimis shipments made catching dangerous imports in 2019 difficult. U.S. customs data showed 685.5 million such exports in 2022, up from 410.5 million in 2018.
J.D. Vance and Baldwin are also sponsors. The proposal’s success was uncertain. Democratic Representative Earl Blumenauer’s similar bill failed last year.
The measure allows countries other than China and Russia to preserve the exemption by adopting the $800 tariff-free import level. Private shippers like FedEx (FDX.N), UPS (UPS.N), and DHL would convey de minimis packages under the law, not postal agencies.
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