Suspension of ‘de minimis’ duty-free imports into the US set to penalise UK exporters
An Executive Order signed by President Trump this week could have costly implications for UK firms exporting low value consignments into the US, accountancy and business advisory firm BDO has warned.
Prior to 1 February 2025, all goods imported into the United States in the name of individuals, with a value of below $800 benefitted from the de minimis duty-free exemption.
Executive orders signed in February 2025 suspended the use of de minimis on certain imports from Canada and Mexico and imports of all goods of Chinese origin.
Now, an Executive Order dated 30 July, suspends this duty-free de minimis treatment on all goods imported into the US regardless of origin, effective from 29 August 2025.
The order states that the de minimis exemption will no longer apply ‘regardless of value, country of origin, mode of transportation or method of entry’ meaning all shipments will be subject to ‘all applicable duties, taxes, fees, exactions and charges’.
Entry for all shipments that previously qualified for the de minimis exemption will need to be filed using the appropriate full declaration entry type into the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE), the US Electronic Customs Declaration System. This will require additional data elements to be declared to US Customs over and above what users of ‘de minimis’ have been used to if they used the simplified customs labels on parcels.
Separate arrangements will be put in place for shipments sent through the international postal network until such time as the US Customs and Border Protection agency establishes a new entry process.
Matthew Clark, international trade partner at BDO said: “This will be a bitter blow to many UK businesses that rely on the de minimis duty-free regime to export their goods to the US. Many sectors will be affected by this change, notably UK retail businesses with a US customer base.”
“Businesses selling into the US market will now urgently need to review their logistics models, their customs declaration completion and submission, customs origin and the valuation of their goods.”
“While these changes had been anticipated, very few people expected them to take effect quite so soon. With the new rules coming into force from the end of this month, affected businesses are left with very little time to prepare.
“The UK government this week launched its plan for small and medium-sized businesses which aims, in part, to help small businesses to take advantage of export opportunities. This latest move from the US government arguably makes that task much harder.”