Fashion’s global supply chain is experiencing a seismic shift. The decades-old ‘de minimis’ rule — a seemingly innocuous trade provision allowing low-value individual parcels to be imported into the US duty free — has become ground zero for a high-stakes economic and political confrontation with China.
On 28 January — a week after President Donald Trump took office for the second time — Congressman Greg Murphy reintroduced the End China’s De Minimis Abuse Act, aiming to curb China’s ability to bypass tariffs. This followed a plea from 126 House Democrats in September, urging then President Joe Biden to use his executive authority to tackle the issue of four million packages entering the US daily without inspection.
