On August 29, 2025, an executive order repealing the de minimis rule of 1939 was placed in effect. The order was signed by President Trump on July 30 as part of a plan to jump-start the United States economy.
De minimis is a Latin word meaning ‘lacking significance or importance’. The policy allowed Americans to avoid paying import taxes on items of small value and minimized the number of inspections packages go through at the border.
Signed in 1939, the policy was previously used to stimulate the United States economy after the Great Depression of the 1930s. Since then, Americans, and essentially the US, have exploded as a global consumer.
The de minimis ruling allows packages from other countries to enter the United States for a cheap, price which is how Shein, Temu, etc. are able to run their businesses. The ruling was also helpful in the modern small business market, with Etsy and Depop sellers able to sell clothes or other products in the United States with minimal taxes.
According to AP News, countries such as Australia, Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Switzerland, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Thailand, the U.K., and New Zealand have all announced they will be halting packages until they can find a way to collect the tarriffs.
This will lead to massive amount of backlog and operational strain as there are not currently enough tools and resources to collect foreign postal services as the process to collect tariffs goes under way.
Last year, it AP News reported that a total of 1.36 billion packages reached the United States border last year with a combined value of $64.6 billion dollars compared to 134 million packages sent under the exemption in 2015.
Some critics argue that the mandate will benefit American consumers while others point out that it unfairly favors foreign countries.
As the overruling of the de minimis rule takes effect, small businesses around LSU are preparing for how it could affect their business.
LSU student Hana Simpson, owner of UpgradeLSU, has already found a way to utilize US factories to keep her prices low and affordable for her as a college student.
‘I’m really new, so I use a lot of in country sources especially cause out of country is more expensive and with my college budget it’s a no no. So I usually do things in the US if I can.’
Having started her business in May of this year, Simpson samples a few different factories to experiment with different options but was met with a surprising experience.
‘I did go to China and I didn’t have a good experience honestly. It didn’t come out the way I desired but that’s not everyone. […] I was like okay, I’m not going to spend this money and waste it anymore so I’ll just stay in the US.”
Highland Coffee Shop owner, Clarke Cadzow is ready to brace the tariffs as the price of coffee is always fluctuating considering environmental effects, wars, and trade agreements are factors he has to consider while running his business.
“It simply has to be absorbed by the business and passed on in some way. It’s disruptive. So we are certainly hoping that the United States and these other countries negotiate down the tariffs, bring them down and hopefully get coffee back to the price it was.”
How long this mandate will be in place, no one really knows and only time will tell whether or not this will be good for the economy or not.
