Closing the De Minimis Loophole Act
Key claim: The Closing the De Minimis Loophole Act would immediately terminate duty-free de minimis treatment for goods from China and end it for all other countries 120 days after enactment, while directing Treasury to set entry-data and postal-fee rules for enforcement.
Abstract
(HR1840 · 119th Congress) Closing the De Minimis Loophole Act This bill immediately terminates de minimis treatment for goods originating in China and phases out such treatment for goods originating from all other countries. (Current law allows for U.S. imports under a de minimis threshold of $800 per shipment to enter free of tariffs, fees, and taxes.) Specifically, de minimis treatment ends (1) with respect to goods from China, beginning on the bill’s enactment date (with an exception for goods already loaded onto a vessel or in transit during the three-day period that ends on the enactment date); and (2) with respect to goods from any other country, 120 days after the bill’s enactment. During the 120-day period beginning on the date of the bill’s enactment, the Department of the Treasury must carry out a rulemaking process. Among other elements, the rulemaking process must ensure that data requirements and entry procedures for informal modes of entry are sufficient to ensure the effective enforcement of U.S. laws and the efficient and accurate collection of duties, fees, and taxes. The bill directs Treasury, in the case of shipments sent through the international postal network, to determine appropriate fees and procedures to ensure consistency between the treatment of shipments by the U.S. Postal Service and other shipments. Latest action (2025-03-04): Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
Why this matters
De minimis (Section 321) has become the dominant channel for low-value cross-border e-commerce, particularly from China, and its treatment is the single largest lever affecting small-parcel importers, foreign exporters, and consumer prices on inexpensive goods. This bill would move the current administrative suspension into statute, hard-coding a China-first termination and a global phase-out, which reduces the reversibility of the policy and shifts enforcement design (entry data, postal fees) to Treasury. Tracking it clarifies whether the low-value import regime becomes a durable structural feature of U.S. trade policy rather than an executive-branch measure.