U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order suspending the closing of the “de minimis” trade exemption for imports from China and Hong Kong — a provision that has significantly helped propel the rapid growth of Chinese ecommerce in the country.

The decision was driven by the lack of infrastructure and workable solutions for customs and postal services to manage the volume and procedure.

The order states that de minimis will be restored for small packages shipped from China, "but shall cease to be available for such articles upon notification by the Secretary of Commerce to the President that adequate systems are in place to fully and expediently process and collect tariff revenue" on those items.

On February 1st, Trump suspended the exemption as part of new tariffs that impose an additional 10% tax on Chinese goods.

"De minimis" has been utilized by many ecommerce companies to send goods valued at less than $800 into the U.S. duty-free, creating a competitive advantage.

This provision triggered the explosion of affordable goods being shipped out of China to the U.S. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported processing over 1.3 billion de minimis shipments in 2024, with the Chinese commerce companies Temu and Shein accounting for more than 30% of these shipments.

It stated that "nearly half" of all de minimis shipments also likely originated from China.

Meanwhile, he recently announced global tariffs of 25% on all steel and aluminium imports starting March 4th, which the European Commission described as “unjustified.” The Commission said the EU would react to protect the interests of European businesses, marking another escalation in the ongoing trade war salvo.

The EU has already signalled plans to reduce tariffs on U.S. car imports from the current 10% to a rate closer to the U.S. tariff of 2.5%.

Trump is also expected to announce reciprocal tariffs on multiple countries, potentially including tariffs on Japan and made intentions to introduce reciprocal tariffs and new tariffs on computer chips, pharmaceuticals, copper, and oil and gas imports as soon as mid-February.