A “Made in China” sticker is displayed on a hat at a store in the Chinatown in San Francisco. (Jeff Chiu/Associated Press, File)
WASHINGTON — Online shoppers in the U.S. will see a price break on their purchases valued at less than $800 and shipped from China after the Trump administration reached a truce with Beijing over sky-high tariffs.
An executive order May 12 from President Donald Trump said the tariffs on low-value parcels originating from China and coming through the U.S. Postal Service will be lowered to 54%, down from 120%.
It also says a per-package flat rate — as an alternative to the value-based tariff — will be kept at $100 rather than being raised to $200 on June 1 as previously decreed. Packages shipped by commercial carriers are subject to the general tariff, which also has been cut.
The new rules are effective as of May 14.
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They are part of a broader agreement by the Trump administration to drastically lower import taxes on all Chinese goods from 145% to 30% following weekend talks in Switzerland with Chinese officials. China issued a public notice May 13 lowering its own tariffs on U.S. goods to 10%, down from 125%.
However, the reductions are temporary, allowing the two sides to negotiate a longer-term deal in the next 90 days.
Izzy Rosenzweig, founder and CEO of the logistics company Portless, said U.S. brands are “very excited” about the broader tariff cut. The import tax is still high, but not as prohibitive as when it was 145%, which amounted to a trade embargo.
On the low-value shipments, online purchases had been coming into the U.S. duty free for several years under the de minimis rule, which exempted them from the import tax.
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Popular shopping sites, such as Shein and Temu, that offer ultralow prices took advantage of the duty-free rule by shipping directly from China to U.S. buyers, bypassing more cumbersome customs paperwork.
Trump terminated the exemption on such parcels originating from China and Hong Kong on May 2, following criticism that it not only resulted in lost tariff revenue but also allowed illicit drugs and unsafe products to flow into the U.S. without adequate scrutiny.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said as many as 4 million low-value parcels were coming into the U.S. every day — many of which originated from China.
Shortly before the exemption ended May 2, prices on many items sold by Shein rose. Temu apparently halted shipments from China and tapped its existing inventory in the U.S.
John Lash, group vice president of product strategy at the supply chain platform e2open, said he expected the volume of low-value packages would now rise but not back to previous levels. The $100 flat rate, he said, means that higher-value packages could get less of a hit, because the effective duty rate could be as low as 13%.
Neither Shein nor Temu immediately responded to requests for comment May 13 about the lower tariffs.
