Acting Deputy Commissioner Peter Flores said the proposal would help halt the shipment of illicit drugs and other counterfeit goods to American homes.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has announced a proposed rule to increase oversight of de minimis shipments, which amount to over 4 million packages daily that are subjected to less rigorous screening.
“Every day, the men and women of CBP interdict goods that threaten the health and safety of Americans as well as the economic vitality of our country. We see illicit drugs, dangerous toys, fake medicines, and other counterfeit goods shipped direct to American homes impacting the lives of our neighbors, friends, and families,” Acting Deputy Commissioner Peter Flores said in a statement on Jan. 13.
“This proposed rule will help to give us some of the tools we need to address more of these threats,” he continued. “To achieve comprehensive de minimis reform and trade modernization, we urgently need statutory updates.”
The CBP said the proposal is the first of two Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) following the White House’s announcement in September last year to curb the overuse and abuse of low-value imports under the $800-de-minimis threshold. The Biden administration announced the new steps to target Chinese online retailers such as Shein and Temu.
“The overwhelming volume of low-value shipments and lack of actionable data collected pursuant to current regulations inhibit CBP’s ability to identify and interdict high-risk shipments that may contain illegal drugs such as illicit fentanyl, merchandise that poses a risk to public safety, counterfeit or pirated goods, or other contraband,” the CBP said in a Jan. 13 statement.
Under the proposal, the CBP would establish a “fully electronic process” for importers to file entry data before their packages arrive in the United States. This would reduce the burden on customs officials who process the shipments, and the agency would be better able to target and halt shipments that violate U.S. law.
The CBP is soliciting public comment on the proposal. The agency added that the second NPRM will be released “in the coming days.”
In a letter dated Oct. 28, 2024, four Democratic senators told Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to eliminate the de minimis rule, saying that drug traffickers have been abusing the trade exemption to smuggle illicit fentanyl and its precursor chemicals into the United States.
In February last year, Sens. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) asked President Joe Biden to end the de minimis in a joint letter, saying that the rule undermines American manufacturers.
How the incoming Trump administration will address the de minimis rule remains to be seen. President-elect Donald Trump has nominated former U.S. Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott to lead the CBP and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to head the Department of Homeland Security.
During a congressional hearing in May 2023, Scott told lawmakers that Mexican cartels “control everything that crosses that southwest border,” including illegal migrant crossings.
“Stopping the Chinese Communist Party’s invasion of America begins at our southern border,” Noem wrote in a post on the social media platform X in August 2023.
“China is the primary source for the flow of fentanyl into American communities. Closing the border and holding China accountable will save lives and protect South Dakota families,” Noem added.
A Chinese national was indicted in July 2024 for allegedly importing more than 2 tons of fentanyl precursors from China. The defendant exploited the de minimis rule to avoid customs inspection by declaring his shipments to be less than $800 and commingling them with similarly low-valued import items.
Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), has been a leading voice on the issue.
In June 2023, Rubio and Brown introduced the Import Security and Fairness Act. If enacted, it would end de minimis treatment for Chinese and Russian goods and require CBP to collect additional information regarding de minimis packages.
“It is bad for our country to let China flood our country with duty-free packages using the de minimis exception. The Import Security and Fairness Act will close this loophole and take another critical step to stop China from cheating on trade,” Rubio said in a statement at the time.