A group of U.S. bipartisan lawmakers plans to propose a new bill aimed at lifting the tariff exemption widely used by e-commerce sellers when sending goods from China to U.S. shoppers.
According to Reuters, the tariff exemption is known as the “minimum rule”, according to which US consumers are exempt from tariffs if they buy imported goods worth $800 or less. E-commerce platforms such as China-based, Singapore-based Shein, and overseas version Temu are the biggest beneficiaries of this exemption rule.
However, once the above-mentioned bill is passed, goods from China will no longer benefit from the tax exemption. Senator Bill Cassidy, a Republican who initiated the new bill, explained that the bill will ban such goods from China immediately after it is passed. Other initiators of the bill are Republican Senator JD Vance and Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin, and it is not yet clear how much support the proposal will get.
Under the bill, countries outside of China and Russia can remain exempt by applying a $800 threshold on their own duty-free imports.The bill will only allow the minimum amount of packages shipped by private shippers such as FedEx, UPS and DHL, excluding postal services.
Following the end of the new coronavirus, global consumption capacity and demand weakened, and the entire e-commerce disc contracted compared to the peak. U.S. Customs data show that such shipments will increase to $6.855 billion in 2022 compared to $4.105 billion in 2018.