Although I can’t say for sure, my guess is $25 is not a cap but a minimum. Why?
First, you could play games with costing on forms. Customs won’t know what a customer actual paid Shein/Temu. The supplier could say the product is $10 even though the customer paid $100.
Second, there is a cost to processing all these imports. Doesn’t matter if it’s a $10 or a $500 item, there is a cost to move it through the system and a minimum of $25 seems fairly logical. When containers move through customs, you have to pay flat fees to process regardless of the value of goods. Why shouldn’t these shippers pay the same document fees?
I’m 100% for this as it levels the playing field. If Shein/Temu want to open up warehouses here in the US to minimize the impact of a $25 minimum, good on them. Moves some of the income, revenue, jobs and tax dollars to the USA where the sales are coming from.
Shipments under $800 that are sent through the international postal network will be “subject to a duty rate of either 30% of their value or $25 per item (increasing to $50 per item after June 1, 2025).”
…so shipments below $84(ish) will be $25, and then 30% as the shipment price increases to $84-$800…until June 1, when every shipment below $167(ish) will be $50.
Otherwise–if $25/$50 is a cap–then anything over $84/$167 basically ships free.
Common strategy when they know an action will move the market. Smart money would have acted before the announcement.
My brokerage account that I manage is slightly up. Not genius on my part. Only two stocks up, but one of them was Costco.
I expect that when I have my full data on my day’s performance at about 5:30 edt I will have about half the loss the major indicies will have shown. If I don’t I might be a little upset.
Like all things that are undefined and unknown when any administration writes stuff as a reaction to previous actions there is a lot of speculation.
I think many are missing the two important words here though – “PER ITEM”.
If any shipment has a ‘cost value’ (FAKE) of $700 but consists of 100 $7 items it reads to me as 100X25 for the tariff. That would be the per item method. The $2500 versus 30% of $700 ($210) is a lot more painful!
One of my suppliers is in Canada and shipped nearly all their inventory across the border into WA when all this started. I shouldn’t see any price increases until they exhaust that inventory which should take several months.
If you sell made in the USA products (most of mine are)
Laissez les bons temps rouler.
(i) Ad Valorem Duty. 30 percent of the value of the postal item containing goods for merchandise entered for consumption on or after 12:01 am eastern daylight time on May 2, 2025.
(ii) Specific Duty. 25 dollars per postal item containing goods for merchandise entered for consumption on or after 12:01 am eastern daylight time on May 2, 2025, and before 12:01 am eastern daylight time on June 1, 2025, and 50 dollars per postal item containing goods for merchandise entered for consumption on or after 12:01 am eastern daylight time on June 1, 2025.
Correct me if I am wrong, but it works this way.
Either a 30% or a flat $25 fee (later in June $25) will be the tariff
So a Temu order of $10 to a customer, Tarriff will be $3.00 or 30%
A Temu order of $100 to a customer, Tarriff will be $25 or 25% (June it is $30 or 30%)
A Temu order of $400 to a customer, Tarriff will be $25 or 6%. (June it is $50 or 12%)
A Temu order of $800 to a customer, Tarriff will be $25 or 3% (June it is $50 or 6%)
The meaning of SPECIFIC DUTY is a duty assessed on an article of a given kind at a flat rate per unit of quantity (such as a ton, bushel, or yard) without individual appraisal.
Our friend @ThisIsFine likes that image as well, to be sure - but something tells me that s/he’s unlikely to be any more pleased with the implications than most of the rest of us are…
