Think Tank Suggests Restricting de Minimis Based on Annual Shipments

A retail analyst at the Center for Data Innovation, a think tank that promotes using data to form policymaking, says that while bills in Congress that would exclude China and mandate more data collection for de minimis shipments could be useful, "they do not address the root problem which is that Congress did not create the de minimis exemption so that high-volume sellers could avoid import duties and customs inspections."

Author Becca Trate argues that de minimis goods enter without customs inspections -- something CBP has repeatedly said is not true (see 2304170052), though customs officials acknowledge it is more difficult to screen those shipments due to both the volume and the inaccurate data often submitted to CBP ahead of the goods' arrival.

Trate's support for her allegation that de minimis packages are not inspected was a white paper by Livingston International in 2018, which argued for returning to a $200 de minimis. That paper said CBP does inspect de minimis packages on a case-by-case basis.

Trate's piece noted that reducing the dollar threshold wouldn't address the issues Congress has identified, either, since the average order from Shein is $71.

She said the best approach would be to restrict de minimis to shippers based on annual volume. "Merely targeting shipments from China will not suffice because Chinese manufacturers could just relocate operations or products to other countries before shipping them to the United States. This would lead to inflated prices for consumers and the products still entering under the de minimis threshold. A more effective approach would be to limit shippers who can use the de minimis exemption only to those whose annual aggregate shipments fall below a certain threshold," she wrote on Jan. 23. "The goal would be to maintain the de minimis exemption for low-volume sellers, not high-volume sellers who should adhere to standard import requirements."

The Center for Data Innovation is a subsidiary of the Internet Technology and Innovation Foundation.