The United States is scrapping its long-standing 'de minimis' exemption, which allowed goods valued at $800 or less to enter the country without import duties. 

The move, waved through by President Donald Trump to take effect on August 29, is being billed by the White House as "closing a loophole" – but it is already causing disruption for global e-commerce and European businesses.

Under the exemption, low-value imports could bypass customs duties and complex paperwork. It proved popular with U.S. consumers who shopped online for cheaper goods, particularly from Chinese fast-fashion and e-commerce platforms like Shein and Temu. 

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data, 1.36 billion parcels entered the U.S. duty-free in 2024, a 36 percent increase from the year before. Roughly 60 percent of those packages originated in China, with Shein and Temu alone accounting for nearly half of that share.

European postal services are among the first to react. Germany's DHL has suspended standard parcel shipments to the United States for business customers. 

France's La Poste, Spain's Correos, Swiss Post and Australia Post have announced similar pauses. Only premium express services remain in place, often at a much higher cost.

In a statement, DHL said: "Key questions remain unresolved, particularly regarding how and by whom customs duties will be collected in the future, what additional data will be required, and how the data transmission to U.S. Customs will be carried out." 

The company said its aim was to resume normal goods shipping to the U.S. "as quickly as possible."

Analysts in Europe say the new U.S. policy is politically motivated but economically damaging. 

Professor Uli Brückner, a European studies scholar in Berlin, explains that Washington has framed the change as tackling so-called "tariff evasion," presenting it as a fiscal and security measure. 

But for European logistics firms, the practical effect is higher costs, more staff, and a challenge to their business models.

The impact extends beyond major couriers. For smaller European exporters – artisans, niche manufacturers and online retailers – the U.S. has been their largest overseas market. The suspension of affordable parcel services risks cutting them off from customers.

With both Chinese e-commerce giants and European small businesses squeezed, the end of de minimis is being seen as another escalation in Donald Trump's tariff war – a decision taken in Washington that reverberates across global supply chains.