"The de minimis exemption, which allowed packages worth under $800 to enter the country duty-free and without undergoing the formal customs process, ended in August. This closure could have major impacts for US consumers, Sinead Colton Grant, chief investment officer at BNY Wealth, told Business Insider in an interview. "The thing that we are watching really closely ... is the elimination of the $800 exemption for imports because that hits a lot of consumers more directly," Colton Grant said."
""When you go into a store, there's a single headline price, and you're not aware of what's driving it, she explained. Whereas with online shopping, you'll notice when the de minimis exemption is not there, Colton Grant said. This could have a "broader ripple effect," she said, especially on smaller businesses that are less likely to have operations in the US.""
""When President Donald Trump unveiled his "Liberation Day" levies at the beginning of April, much of the focus was on larger-scale imports and exports, rather than consumer spending. However, the Trump administration issued an executive order to close the de minimis loophole in July. For BNY Wealth, the inflationary impact of tariffs in the US was only expected to be a "one-off," and then prices would return to an equilibrium-like level, Colton Grant said.""
The de minimis exemption allowing packages under $800 to enter duty-free ended in August. Its elimination will expose import duties to consumers at checkout, particularly affecting online shoppers who will see itemized costs. In-store shoppers are less likely to notice tariff-driven price changes because of single headline pricing. The change could create a broader ripple effect, harming smaller businesses without US operations that previously relied on low-cost cross-border shipments. The administration issued an executive order closing the loophole in July. BNY Wealth expects the tariff-driven inflationary impact to be a temporary one-off before prices return toward equilibrium.
Read at Business Insider
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