As of Friday, the exemption for low-value packages sent to the U.S. has been lifted, causing disruption in global shipping while shipping companies, businesses, and consumers adjust to the updated regulations.

Previously exempt, packages under $800 sent to the U.S. will now incur tariffs and fees. These costs could be based on U.S. tariff rates from the packages’ countries of origin or flat fees between $80 and $200, with the latter option available to postal services only during the initial six-month period. Some shipments might encounter extra tariffs and fees.

John Pickel, a key figure in supply chain policy at the National Foreign Trade Council, explained that some deliveries might experience delays and that both U.S. consumers and businesses could face increased expenses.

“For a typical de minimis shipment, covering customs brokerage fees will effectively double the cost,” Pickel explained. “And that’s before considering the revenue directed to the government.”

One business impacted by this change is Greenwich Letterpress, a stationery shop in New York City. Co-owner Beth Salvini indicated that approximately half of their inventory is sourced internationally, including greeting cards from the U.K., handmade notebooks from Portugal, and stationery from Japan. With the exemption removed, Salvini intends to adjust prices upward.

“In retail, you can’t buy an item for $5 and sell it for $2 to your customer,” she stated. “This is more than a hobby; it’s my livelihood, and it supports my sister, my partner, and our employees, along with our rent. Absorbing every extra cost for small items simply isn’t feasible.”

The de minimis exemption streamlined processing of overseas shipments and allowed U.S. businesses and consumers to buy low-cost items from abroad without incurring massive charges.

All sorts of low-value items have fallen under the exemption, including small kitchen appliances and utensils, beauty products and apparel from companies like Shein, Temu and Etsy.

De minimis parcels made up 97% of overall shipping volume over the last three fiscal years, with around 4 million of those deliveries processed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection daily. In the 2024 fiscal year, most came from China: 994 million out of nearly 1.4 billion.

The White House has taken several steps this year to end the exemption, which it said has been used to “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.”

It ended the exemption for items from China and Hong Kong in May. There hasn’t been a significant change in monthly drug seizures since then, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Then, the tax and spending law President Donald Trump signed in July eliminated the exemption for all countries starting in 2027. But Trump’s executive order on July 30 condensed the timeline, ending the exemption on Friday.

There are some exceptions: American travelers will still be able to bring $200 in personal items back to the United States duty-free. And someone abroad can send a gift of $100 or less to the United States duty-free.

In the days leading up to Friday, dozens of package carriers around the world paused shipping to the United States as they sorted through the changes and updated their shipping procedures.

Salvini, the Greenwich Letterpress co-owner, said the business will no longer be able to buy certain items from abroad — and some of the shop’s international suppliers have cut off shipping to the United States anyway. So customers might see different items on the shelves, and Salvini and her team want to keep them as affordable as possible.

“We’ve always prided ourselves on being a space that you can come into and you could spend $1 and get something,” she said. “It’s not a luxury store. It doesn’t weed people out because it’s too much, and we just don’t want to get to that point where everything in here just feels like that’s just a little above what somebody might want to spend, because that’s not the joy that we try to show people.”