A massive tariff on millions of Americans' purchases just went into
effect -- cue the chaos
Many Americans might not have felt major effects from President Donald
Trump's sweeping tariffs - until now.
That's because a major shipping loophole expired at one minute past
midnight on Friday. The de minimis exemption, as it's known, allowed
shipments of goods worth $800 or less to come into the US duty free,
often more or less skipping time-consuming inspections and paperwork.
..
CBP told CNN it currently processes "nearly 4 million duty-free de
minimis shipments a day."
..
Lower-income households will suffer the most from the end of cheap
Chinese e-commerce sites. About 48% of de minimis packages shipped to
the poorest zip codes in the United States, while 22% were delivered
to the richest ones, according to February research from UCLA and Yale economists.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/02/economy/de-minimis-packages-tariff
In other words, this policy attempts to support "Made in USA"
products, and merchants, who are pissed off at consumers buying
imported products.
Hopefully those lower waged blue collar MAGA types will experience
their purchasing 'power' decreasing, and come to realize the T-Borg
has screwed them.
I suspect those buying from out of country e-commerce sites, who have
lower wages, will turn to garage sells, etc. I don't think this will
make US merchants "rich again." And it will reduce state sales taxes
charged, which e-commerce sites collect.
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