On April 24, 2025, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a notice regarding changes to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) eliminating the Section 321 de minimis exemption for goods from China, which had previously permitted shipments valued at under $800 to be entered into the U.S. informally and duty-free.
The notice
On April 2, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order (“EO”) imposing a 10% universal tariff on imports from all countries (with certain exceptions described below) pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (“IEEPA”). These tariffs will take effect at 12:01 a.m. eastern standard time on April 5, 2025.
The tariff rates
Following President Trump’s removal of the de minimis exemption earlier this week, on Friday, February 7, 2025, President Trump issued an amendment to his original Executive Order and temporarily reinstated the exemption until “notification by the Secretary of Commerce to the President that adequate systems are in place to fully and expediently process and collect
The merging of Hong Kong with China with respect to Hong Kong’s treatment under the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”) is now reflected in the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security’s Hong Kong recordkeeping guidance. On February 19, 2021, BIS updated its Hong Kong recordkeeping FAQs to make that guidance consistent with the final rule BIS issued on December 23, 2020 implementing Executive Order 13936 (the “E.O.”). The E.O. was signed in the wake of U.S. objections to Chinese government national security legislation imposed on Hong Kong in 2020, which outlaws any act of “secession,” “terrorism,” or “collusion” with a foreign power.
On October 14, 2020, the U.S. Secretary of State, pursuant to section 5(a) of the Hong Kong Autonomy Act (“HKAA”), submitted a report to Congress identifying foreign persons who are “materially contributing to, have materially contributed to, or attempt to materially contribute to the failure of the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”) to meet its
On August 10, 2020, U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP) issued a notice that goods produced in Hong Kong will need to be marked as a product of China starting on September 25, 2020. The marking changes are the result of the July 14, 2020 Executive Order on Hong Kong Normalization that ended Hong Kong’s special trade status.
The Department of Commerce released its reports recommending remedies with respect to the Section 232 investigations of steel and aluminum today, February 16. The steel report was submitted to the White House on January 11, 2018 and started a statutory 90-day clock for the President to make a decision on a course of action. The aluminum report was submitted on January 19, 2018 and similarly started the statutory 90 days for the decision.