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What Happened to Tariffs on Low-Value Packages From China and Hong Kong?

The 2025 China and Hong Kong de minimis change was followed by a broader suspension for most imports. Here is what the $800 threshold means—and why it is not a current duty-free allowance.
From TheFinanceBase Team4 min to read
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The United States ended duty-free de minimis treatment for covered low-value goods from China and Hong Kong beginning May 2, 2025. The original order used an $800 value threshold, but that is not a duty-free allowance available today: the policy later expanded to most imports from all countries. As of October 8, 2026, a package’s duties depend on its origin, product classification and shipping and entry route—not one universal rate.

What the original China and Hong Kong order changed

Executive Order 14256, issued April 8, 2025, ended the de minimis duty-free treatment for covered goods from China, including Hong Kong, entered for consumption or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption on or after May 2, 2025. The order applied to qualifying goods valued at or below $800 that otherwise could have received de minimis treatment. The $800 figure defined the scope of that 2025 action; it does not mean qualifying packages still enter duty-free. Read Executive Order 14256.

The order treated postal and non-postal shipments differently. Covered non-postal shipments had to use another appropriate customs entry and pay applicable duties. International postal shipments followed a separate duty method under the initial order. Those initial procedures and rates were later changed, so the order is useful for understanding how the policy began, not for calculating a package’s current bill.

How the policy expanded beyond China and Hong Kong

The China and Hong Kong action was followed by a broader suspension. Executive Order 14324, issued July 30, 2025, suspended duty-free de minimis treatment for most imports from all countries, with the change taking effect August 29, 2025, according to CBP. Executive Order 14388 continued that global suspension on February 20, 2026, including for shipments sent through the international postal network.

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Date Policy change What it means
April 8, 2025 Executive Order 14256 issued Established the China and Hong Kong change for covered goods valued at or below $800.
May 2, 2025 China and Hong Kong change took effect Covered entries no longer received de minimis duty-free treatment.
August 29, 2025 Global suspension began Most imports from all countries lost duty-free de minimis treatment.
February 20, 2026 Global suspension continued The suspension continued, including for international postal shipments.
June 24, 2026 CBP interim final rules published Rules suspended the exemption in CBP regulations for postal and non-postal goods and revised the postal process.
October 8, 2026 CBP proposed a further postal-process change The proposed Entry Type 13 process is not yet a finalized requirement.

See Executive Order 14324, Executive Order 14388 and CBP’s e-commerce guidance and October 8, 2026 proposed-rule account.

Are packages from China still covered by the $800 exemption?

No. The $800 threshold in the original order is not a current duty-free allowance for covered China or Hong Kong goods. The later global suspension means most imports from other countries also no longer receive duty-free de minimis treatment. Whether a particular parcel owes duty, and how much, depends on its classification and applicable duties as well as the route used to ship and enter it.

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How postal and other shipments are handled now

International postal shipments

CBP says interim final rules published June 24, 2026 revised the postal entry process. Under the current process described by CBP on October 8, 2026, postal shipments require product-classification data and may be assessed all applicable duties. This is different from the initial postal method in the April 2025 order; do not use that earlier method as a current rate calculator.

Non-postal shipments

Non-postal covered shipments use an appropriate customs entry and are subject to applicable duties. The exact filing and duty treatment for a parcel cannot be determined from its price alone: product classification, origin and entry route matter. The official material cited here does not establish one rate for every low-value package or provide a parcel-specific duty amount.

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What the October 2026 Entry Type 13 proposal would do

CBP’s proposed rule published October 8, 2026 would replace the current informal postal process with a more formal Entry Type 13 (ET13) process and related data requirements, aligning postal filing more closely with non-postal entries. It is a proposal, not a finalized requirement; the process described as current by CBP remains the relevant one unless and until a final rule changes it.

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What CBP’s shipment figures do—and do not—show

CBP’s October 8, 2026 proposed rule says 67% of postal shipments were entered through an informal or formal entry process between September 2025 and May 2026. CBP estimated that the remaining 33% were likely shipped without payment of duties. These figures describe CBP’s estimate for that period, not the treatment of any individual package.

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The proposal also cites CBP seizure rates for fiscal year 2024: 277.8 narcotics seizures per million postal de minimis shipments and 2.6 per million non-postal entry shipments. Those are historical rates for the specified shipment types. They do not establish current seizure rates or prove that a particular entry process caused the difference.

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What to check before ordering or importing

  • Origin: Confirm the country of origin; the policy began with China and Hong Kong but later expanded to most imports globally.
  • Shipping route: Determine whether the seller is using the international postal network or a non-postal shipping and entry route.
  • Product classification: Ask the seller, carrier or customs broker how the product is classified and what applicable duties may be collected.
  • Current procedure: Use CBP’s current guidance rather than relying on the original 2025 postal method or the still-proposed ET13 process.

Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.

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