Latest news with #KimGlas
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
US textile sector backs proposal to end de minimis for all countries
The US House Ways & Means Committee, the chief tax-writing committee in the House of Representatives, included a provision in the budget reconciliation bill that would eliminate de minimis entry privilege for commercial shipments permanently. According to Section 321 of the Tariff Act of 1930, shipments destined for businesses and consumers in the US with a value below $800 are permitted entry into the country without being subjected to duties and taxes. The provision was terminated for goods from China, including Hong Kong and Macau, as of 2 May, but it remains applicable to imports from other nations. The latest provision 'repeals the de minimis privilege worldwide' effective 1 July 2027. It added that 'this section also increases penalties for violators of Section 321 of the Tariff Act of 1930'. NCTO president and CEO Kim Glas said: 'On behalf of the US textile industry, we would like to commend the House Ways and Means Committee for including an important and critical provision in the broader budget reconciliation bill that would permanently end de minimis access for commercial shipments from all countries, effective 1 July 2027. 'The committee is slated to consider and mark up this legislation today. This significant step by chairman Jason Smith (R-MO), Rep. Greg Murphy (R-NC), and the entire committee validates that the destructive de minimis loophole has harmed US textile manufacturing and impeded the fight against illicit fentanyl trafficking and must be permanently closed.' Data from US customs revealed a surge in de minimis exemption use by over 600%, climbing from around 139m shipments in fiscal year 2015 to over 1bn annually in 2023. In 2024, shipments entering under de minimis reached 1.36bn. The proposed legislation maintains lower de minimis levels for gifts and personal items brought into the US. Additionally, it introduces penalties for misuse of de minimis before this deadline to import goods in violation of US laws, setting fines at $5,000 for initial infractions and $10,000 for subsequent ones. Glas added: 'As the bill makes its way through the legislative process, we strongly support a more aggressive timeline to implement a permanent ban on de minimis globally given its significant harm to manufacturers, retailers, and the fight against fentanyl and other illegal products. Express shippers have already transitioned to processing all Chinese imports through sophisticated logistics systems, demonstrating their ability to comply with the president's executive orders and pivot quickly. 'We recognise the committee's leadership in moving forward with a permanent global solution that will help restore a level playing field for US manufacturers and spur more investment and job growth.' Earlier this month (May), NCTO praised the Trump Administration's termination of de minimis for low-value shipments from China and Hong Kong and called for an extension of this policy to all countries. "US textile sector backs proposal to end de minimis for all countries" was originally created and published by Just Style, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Sign in to access your portfolio
Fibre2Fashion
15-05-2025
- Business
- Fibre2Fashion
US NCTO hails House move to permanently ban de minimis shipments
The US National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) recently commended the House Ways and Means Committee for including an important and critical provision in the broader budget reconciliation bill that would permanently end de minimis access for commercial shipments from all countries, effective July 1, 2027. 'This significant step….validates that the destructive de minimis loophole has harmed US textile manufacturing and impeded the fight against illicit fentanyl trafficking and must be permanently closed,' NCTO president and chief executive officer Kim Glas said in a statement. US trade body NCTO has commended the House Ways and Means Committee for including an important and critical provision in the broader budget reconciliation bill that would permanently end de minimis access for commercial shipments from all countries, effective July 1, 2027. “We strongly support a more aggressive timeline to implement a permanent ban on de minimis globally,†it said. 'As the bill makes its way through the legislative process, we strongly support a more aggressive timeline to implement a permanent ban on de minimis globally given its significant harm to manufacturers, retailers, and the fight against fentanyl and other illegal products,' he said. 'Express shippers have already transitioned to processing all Chinese imports through sophisticated logistics systems, demonstrating their ability to comply with the president's executive orders and pivot quickly,' he added. Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)
New York Times
02-05-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Temu Stops Shipping Products From China to U.S. Customers
Temu, the Chinese e-commerce platform, has stopped shipping products from China into the United States, a spokesperson for the company said on Friday. Instead, all of its U.S. orders will be shipped from local warehouses in America. The change comes after the Trump administration closed a loophole that allowed products made in China and worth no more than $800 to enter the United States without import fees. The exemption, which President Trump has called a 'big scam' that hurt American small businesses, ended Friday. Temu said last month that it would adjust its prices after Mr. Trump announced his intention to close the loophole, known as the de minimis exemption. Last week, the company started tacking on import charges for U.S. customers who wanted to buy items from China. In some cases, that more than doubled the price of their purchases. In the past few days, some shoppers noticed that many products from China were removed from Temu's site, leaving only items that were shipped from local warehouses. The company said on Friday that pricing for U.S. consumers 'remains unchanged as the platform transitions to a local fulfillment model.' 'Temu has been actively recruiting U.S. sellers to join the platform,' the spokesperson said in a statement. 'The move is designed to help local merchants reach more customers and grow their businesses.' More companies have used the loophole in recent years to ship inexpensive products directly to U.S. customers without having to pay import fees. Some say ending the loophole will hurt U.S. consumers by raising prices as well as companies that had built their businesses around the exemption. Others, including trade groups representing American textile makers, opposed the loophole. Kim Glas, the president of the National Council of Textile Organizations, said the exemption had allowed 'unsafe and illegal Chinese goods' to flood the U.S. market duty-free for years. 'Today's action by the administration is an important step forward to help rebalance the playing field for American manufacturers,' Ms. Glas said in a statement.
Boston Globe
02-05-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
Trump ends Chinese tariff loophole, raising the cost of online goods
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up U.S. Customs and Border Protection processed 1 billion such packages in 2023, the average value of which was $54. Advertisement In a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Wednesday, Trump referred to the loophole as 'a scam.' 'It's a big scam going on against our country, against really small businesses,' he said. 'And we've ended, we put an end to it.' Trump's decision was related partly to concerns about the loophole's use as a conduit for fentanyl into the United States. Advertisement The exemption allowed companies shipping inexpensive goods to submit less information to customs officers than other standard shipments. The administration said drug traffickers were 'exploiting' the loophole by sending precursor chemicals and other materials used to manufacture fentanyl into the United States without having to provide shipping details. Growing use of the loophole also threatened U.S. jobs in warehousing and logistics. It encouraged major American retailers to ship more products directly from China to consumers' doorsteps, avoiding larger shipments that were subject to tariffs and then distributed through U.S. warehouses and delivery networks. Kim Glas, the president of the National Council of Textile Organizations, which represents American textile makers and fought to eliminate the loophole, said it had 'devastated the U.S. textile industry.' Glas said it had allowed unsafe and illegal products to flood the U.S. market duty-free for years. More than half of all de minimis shipments by value contained textile and apparel products, she said. 'This tariff loophole has granted China almost unilateral, privileged access to the U.S. market at the expense of American manufacturers and U.S. jobs,' she said. But opponents of ending the exemption complained that the move would significantly raise prices for American consumers, hurt small companies that had built their businesses around the loophole and slow the flow of trade between the countries. The change is expected to weigh on airlines and private carriers like FedEx and UPS, which have had a steady business flying small-dollar goods across the world to the United States. The changes, which apply to shipments from mainland China and Hong Kong, went into effect at 12:01 a.m. Friday. They are likely to sow pain and confusion for consumers as well as small retailers. Advertisement Temu recently started listing 'import charges' on its site, while Shein's website tells shoppers that tariffs are 'included in the price you pay.' Gabriel Wildau, a China analyst at Teneo, an advisory firm, said the change would 'take a bite out of Chinese exports' and 'force online retailers whose main selling point is dirt cheap prices to raise their prices dramatically.' 'It's a price shock for price sensitive U.S. consumers who really enjoyed access to cheap goods,' he said. The Trump administration has also promised to eliminate the loophole for shipments from other countries, but said it was waiting until the government figured out how to deal with collecting fees from such packages. U.S. customs officials are already burdened by the Trump administration's increased enforcement of immigration rules and vast expansion of global tariffs. The administration briefly turned off the de minimis exception for China in early February, before realizing that the sudden change was overwhelming shipment channels, including the Postal Service. Trump then reversed that order to give his advisers more time to establish systems that could accommodate the change. The de minimis exception was created in the 1930s to ease the work of customs officials who were required to collect tariffs in cases where the revenue would be less than the cost of collecting the duties. Congress raised the threshold for de minimis packages to $5 in 1978 and $200 in 1993, and then to $800 in 2016. In recent years, pressure to eliminate the loophole has grown. Lawmakers have been considering legislation to reform the de minimis rule, and the Biden administration proposed changes last year that would narrow the exception when it came to China. Advertisement One potential issue with the current rules is that they appear to create a discrepancy that allows goods moved through the Post Office to be subject to lower tariffs than goods moved using private carriers. Goods that come into the United States from China via private carriers like DHL or FedEx will be subject to tariffs of at least 145% -- for example, adding $14.50 of duties to a $10 T-shirt. But shipments that come in through the Postal Service face either a tariff of 120% of the value of the goods or a fee of $100 per package, which increases to $200 in June. Shipments that come in through private carriers also appear to be subject to other duties, like the tariffs Trump imposed on China in his first term, and most-favored-nation duties set by the World Trade Organization. But shipments that travel through the Postal Service are not. In addition, the Postal Service appears to face less scrutiny for collecting tariffs on goods shipped from China to other countries and then into the United States through foreign postal services. The United States, for now, still offers the de minimis exception for countries other than China. But starting Friday, goods made in China are not supposed to qualify for de minimis, even if they are routed through another country before coming to the United States. Private carriers like UPS and FedEx are required to collect information on the origin of products, so that tariffs still must be paid for a Chinese-made good that is shipped into the United States via Canada, for example. But the Postal Service has not been legally required to collect information on where products originate, and neither are foreign postal services. That could lead to an increase in schemes that try to bypass China tariffs by using the post office. Advertisement This article originally appeared in
New York Times
02-05-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Trump Ends Chinese Tariff Loophole, Raising the Cost of Online Goods
The Trump administration on Friday officially eliminated a loophole that had allowed American shoppers to buy cheap goods from China without paying tariffs. The move will help U.S. manufacturers that have struggled to compete with a wave of low-cost Chinese products, but it has already resulted in higher prices for Americans who shop online. The loophole, called the de minimis rule, allowed products up to $800 to avoid tariffs and other red tape as long as they were shipped directly to U.S. consumers or small businesses. It resulted in a surge of individually addressed packages to the United States, many shipped by air and ordered from rapidly growing e-commerce platforms like Shein and Temu. A growing number of companies used the loophole in recent years to get their products into the United States without facing tariffs. After President Trump imposed duties on Chinese goods during his first term, companies started using the exemption to bypass those tariffs and continue to sell their products more cheaply to the United States. Use of the loophole ramped up in Mr. Trump's second term as he hit Chinese goods with a minimum 145 percent tariff. U.S. Customs and Border Protection processed a billion such packages in 2023, the average value of which was $54. In a cabinet meeting at the White House on Wednesday, Mr. Trump referred to the loophole as 'a scam.' 'It's a big scam going on against our country, against really small businesses,' he said. 'And we've ended, we put an end to it.' Mr. Trump's decision was related partly to concerns about the loophole's use as a conduit for fentanyl into the United States. The exemption allowed companies shipping inexpensive goods to submit less information to customs officers than other standard shipments. The administration said drug traffickers were 'exploiting' the loophole by sending precursor chemicals and other materials used to manufacture fentanyl into the United States without having to provide shipping details. Growing use of the loophole also threatened U.S. jobs in warehousing and logistics. It encouraged major American retailers to ship more products directly from China to consumers' doorsteps, avoiding larger shipments that were subject to tariffs and then distributed through U.S. warehouses and delivery networks. Kim Glas, the president of the National Council of Textile Organizations, which represents American textile makers and fought to eliminate the loophole, said it had 'devastated the U.S. textile industry.' Ms. Glas said it had allowed unsafe and illegal products to flood the U.S. market duty-free for years. More than half of all de minimis shipments by value contained textile and apparel products, she said. 'This tariff loophole has granted China almost unilateral, privileged access to the U.S. market at the expense of American manufacturers and U.S. jobs,' she said. But opponents of ending the exemption complained that the move would significantly raise prices for American consumers, hurt small companies that had built their businesses around the loophole and slow the flow of trade between the countries. The change is expected to weigh on airlines and private carriers like FedEx and UPS, which have had a steady business flying small-dollar goods across the world to the United States. The changes, which apply to shipments from mainland China and Hong Kong, went into effect at 12:01 a.m. Friday. They are likely to sow pain and confusion for consumers as well as small retailers. Temu recently started listing 'import charges' on its site, while Shein's website tells shoppers that tariffs are 'included in the price you pay.' Gabriel Wildau, a China analyst at Teneo, an advisory firm, said the change would 'take a bite out of Chinese exports' and 'force online retailers whose main selling point is dirt cheap prices to raise their prices dramatically.' 'It's a price shock for price sensitive U.S. consumers who really enjoyed access to cheap goods,' he said. The Trump administration has also promised to eliminate the loophole for shipments from other countries, but said it was waiting until the government figured out how to deal with collecting fees from such packages. U.S. customs officials are already burdened by the Trump administration's increased enforcement of immigration rules and vast expansion of global tariffs. The administration briefly turned off the de minimis exception for China in early February, before realizing that the sudden change was overwhelming shipment channels, including the Postal Service. Mr. Trump then reversed that order to give his advisers more time to establish systems that could accommodate the change. The de minimis exception was created in the 1930s to ease the work of customs officials who were required to collect tariffs in cases where the revenue would be less than the cost of collecting the duties. Congress raised the threshold for de minimis packages to $5 in 1978 and $200 in 1993, and then to $800 in 2016. In recent years, pressure to eliminate the loophole has grown. Lawmakers have been considering legislation to reform the de minimis rule, and the Biden administration proposed changes last year that would narrow the exception when it came to China. One potential issue with the current rules is that they appear to create a discrepancy that allows goods moved through the Post Office to be subject to lower tariffs than goods moved using private carriers. Goods that come into the United States from China via private carriers like DHL or FedEx will be subject to tariffs of at least 145 percent — for example, adding $14.50 of duties to a $10 T-shirt. But shipments that come in through the Postal Service face either a tariff of 120 percent of the value of the goods or a fee of $100 per package, which increases to $200 in June. Shipments that come in through private carriers also appear to be subject to other duties, like the tariffs Mr. Trump imposed on China in his first term, and most-favored-nation duties set by the World Trade Organization. But shipments that travel through the Postal Service are not. In addition, the Postal Service appears to face less scrutiny for collecting tariffs on goods shipped from China to other countries and then into the United States through foreign postal services. The United States, for now, still offers the de minimis exception for countries other than China. But starting Friday, goods made in China are not supposed to qualify for de minimis, even if they are routed through another country before coming to the United States. Private carriers like UPS and FedEx are required to collect information on the origin of products, so that tariffs still must be paid for a Chinese-made good that is shipped into the United States via Canada, for example. But the Postal Service has not been legally required to collect information on where products originate, and neither are foreign postal services. That could lead to an increase in schemes that try to bypass China tariffs by using the post office.
