Democratic Members of Congress are asking the president to use his authority to disqualify commercial shipments from de minimis, which allows any package valued under $800 to enter the U.S. duty-free.
More than 100 Democrats in the House of Representatives are calling upon President Biden to use his powers to lessen the flow of packages that enter the United States duty-free thanks to the “de minimis” loophole in U.S. trade law.
In a letter sent to Biden on Wednesday, the 126 Members of Congress call on the president to disqualify commercial shipments from de minimis treatment. De minimis, which allows packages valued under $800 to enter the U.S. without facing tariffs and often bypassing U.S. Customs inspection, has been exploited by importers, perhaps most notably by Chinese brands like SHEIN and Temu.
The Members wrote to Biden:
Disqualifying commercial shipments from de minimis treatment would significantly reduce the volume of small package imports. Instead of millions of individual packages arriving daily in express air delivery centers and via international mail, legitimate goods ordered online would arrive at formal ports aggregated in shipping containers with detailed information about the goods submitted in advance online as required by the SAFE Port Act. This would make it possible for Customs and other regulatory agencies enforcing product safety, labor rights, drug interdiction, and other policies to target shipments that need inspection and seize violating imports. It would also close the door for bad actors now using the lack of inspection and information about de minimis shipments’ contents to flood the U.S. with illicit, forced-labor, fake, and deadly goods – leveling the playing field for domestic manufacturers and workers.
Kim Glas, president and CEO of the National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO), said during a media call on Wednesday that 4 million de minimis packages enter the U.S. each day, with about half of them containing textile or apparel products.
While several bad players are exploiting de minimis, Chinese brands SHEIN and Temu are leading the way. A 2023 report by the House Committee on the Chinese Communist Party found that the two companies sent 600,000 packages a day to the United States in 2022 while paying $0 in tariffs.
And it is American textile manufacturers who are paying the price.
“The U.S. textile industry is facing a five-alarm fire,” Glas said. “We have lost 18 plants over the last year, 18 plants that converted their operations literally overnight during COVID-19 when the country didn’t have life-saving PPE.”
Without action, the problem is likely to worsen. “I know more textile plants will be shuttered. There’s a sense of urgency now to get this done,” Glas said.
There’s a broad coalition of organizations working to close the de minimis loophole, from manufacturing groups and labor unions to law enforcement and advocate organizations working to end the fentanyl crisis. That’s because there’s evidence that fentanyl is entering the United States from China via de minimis shipments, contributing to an epidemic that killed nearly 75,000 people in the U.S. last year.
Efforts are underway on Capitol Hill to close the de minimis loophole, including a bipartisan bill put forth by Senators in August and another bipartisan, bicameral measure introduced by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) and others. Politico reporter Gavin Bade reported on Wednesday that negotiations remain underway to try and move some form of legislation to tackle de minimis this congressional session.
But in the meantime, House Democrats want Biden to act.
“Closing the de minimis loophole has broad support in the United States, from law enforcement to unions and domestic manufacturers, to faith and consumer groups, to large and small retailers, to families who have lost loved ones to fentanyl-laced medications imported from China,” they write. “We pledge to continue our efforts to legislate a remedy to the de minimis crisis. In the interim, we are very eager to work with you to find a timelier remedy for this urgent and growing problem.”