The Trump administration officially ended the de minimis exemption on imports with an executive order issued July 30.

“Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order suspending duty-free de minimis treatment for low-value shipments, closing the catastrophic loophole used to, among other things, evade tariffs and funnel deadly synthetic opioids as well as other unsafe or below-market products that harm American workers and businesses into the United States,” the statement from the White House says.

The order will take effect globally on Aug. 29.

This exemption – which allows products of $800 to enter the U.S. without being subject to import tariffs – experienced a back-and-forth cycle throughout 2025. After initially closing the loophole, Trump issued an order that allowed those low-value imports to enter. That lasted until May, when he again announced that those low-value imports from China and Hong Kong would be subject to levies.

And while China has been the focus of much of the Trump administration’s largest tariffs, this executive order applies globally, even while the administration lessened proposed tariffs in some cases.

On July 1, with the passing of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the statutory basis for the de minimis loophole was repealed with an effective date of July 1, 2027. But with this new order, the loophole officially closes much sooner.

Much of the language of the executive order addresses the import of dangerous substances like fentanyl.

“The de minimis exemption has been abused, with shippers sending illicit fentanyl and other synthetic opioids, precursors, and paraphernalia into the United States in reliance on the lower security measures applied to de minimis shipments, killing Americans,” the order says.

CNBC reported that de minimis shipping volume has grown to 309 million units so far in fiscal year 2025, compared to 115 million for all of last year. Last year, total shipments to the U.S. claiming the de minimis exception had a total value of $1.36 billion in fiscal year 2024 – an 880% increase over 2015. The exemption is commonly used by retailers like Shein and Temu as a means of selling low-priced products like apparel and other consumer goods.

Within promo specifically, the practice of shipping goods (particularly from China) using the de minimis exemption was not uncommon, and those suppliers and distributors who did so can expect higher pricing on shipping.

“There are some suppliers who ship small-value orders direct from China to avoid the tariffs,” shared Yuhling Lu, CEO/co-owner of Counselor Top 40 supplier Ariel Premium Supply (asi/36730), in February.

In addition, pending any 11th-hour changes, the reciprocal tariffs that have also been subject to change throughout the year are set to go into effect on Aug. 1. This week, the United States and the European Union reached a trade deal that places a tariff rate of 15% on most imported EU goods.