If you have been following trade news closely, you saw the de minimis suspension coming.

Since February 24, the $800 de minimis exemption - the rule that allowed packages valued under $800 to enter the United States duty-free - has been suspended by executive action. Small online sellers have been navigating that reality for about seven weeks.

What changed in the last few weeks is bigger. Congress made it permanent.

As part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the legislative elimination of the de minimis exemption has now been codified into statute. This is not a temporary executive order waiting to be reversed by a court or a future administration. It is law.

That changes the calculation for every small seller who has built their sourcing model around platforms like AliExpress, SHEIN suppliers, DHgate, or any overseas manufacturer that shipped product directly to US customers in low-value increments.

What the De Minimis Exemption Actually Was

The de minimis exemption was a provision in US trade law that allowed goods valued at $800 or less to enter the country without paying customs duties or going through formal customs entry procedures.

Think of it as the loophole that powered a decade of low-cost e-commerce.

For large overseas platforms, it meant they could ship individual orders directly to US customers without those orders getting taxed at the border. For American small sellers who dropship or source direct, it meant you could test new products with small orders - say, $200 worth of inventory - without paying a tariff on top of it.

The de minimis threshold was $200 as recently as 2016. Congress raised it to $800, and then an entire supply chain ecosystem built itself around that number.

Now the number is zero.

What You Are Actually Paying Now

The current structure, as of late February 2026:

All imports previously eligible for de minimis are now subject to the Section 122 temporary 10% import duty signed by the administration. That 10% rate is in effect for 150 days from February 24, which means it runs through mid-July.

After that, the legislative elimination in statute takes over and duties would be set at standard tariff schedule rates - which for many product categories (textiles, electronics components, consumer goods) run significantly higher than 10%.

Additionally, Section 232 tariffs on steel, aluminum, autos, copper, and lumber remain in effect separately. These never went away and were not affected by the earlier court ruling that struck down the IEEPA tariffs.

The USMCA-compliant imports from Canada and Mexico are exempt from the Section 122 duty. If you have suppliers in those countries, that is worth knowing.

What Small Sellers Are Doing Right Now

The sellers who were most exposed to the de minimis change are those who:

• Dropship from overseas suppliers who ship direct-to-consumer
• Source inventory through AliExpress, DHgate, or similar platforms in small test quantities
• Compete on price against overseas platforms like Temu or SHEIN, which built their pricing models on the same exemption

For dropshippers who never touched the inventory and relied on suppliers to handle the final mile, the calculus has changed entirely. The duty is now embedded in the landed cost of every package, which means either your margins shrink or your prices go up.

For sellers who hold their own inventory and ship domestically, the impact is less direct. But your competitors who were sourcing cheap through the same overseas channels are now in the same boat.

The Practical Moves

Option 1: Find domestic or USMCA-qualifying suppliers. This is slower and more expensive up front, but it removes the duty exposure. Shopify has a resource guide for navigating tariffs and finding HS codes for your products - worth working through if you have not already.

Option 2: Re-price. If your products are still viable at the new landed cost, the math may still work. Run the actual numbers. A 10% duty on a $15 product is $1.50. If your margins were already razor thin, that is significant. If your margins were healthy, it is manageable.

Option 3: Consolidate your imports. Formal entry is now required for goods that previously skipped that step. If you have been testing products in small quantities, moving to larger, consolidated orders can reduce per-unit duty cost and reduce customs paperwork relative to the number of shipments.

Option 4: Stop watching this story and act. The July timeline matters. The 10% Section 122 duty is temporary. What comes after it is the statutory standard tariff rate, which for many categories runs higher. If you are going to restructure your sourcing, the window to do it for the lower rate is now.

Sources: Shopify International Import Guide, updated February 2026 (shopify.com/blog/international-import-shipping); White House Fact Sheet on Section 122 Temporary Import Duty, February 2026; One Big Beautiful Bill Act (de minimis statutory elimination). Verify current rates with your customs broker before making sourcing decisions.