The Court of International Trade recently upheld President Trump’s executive orders eliminating de minimis eligibility for imports.
Section 321 of the Tariff Act of 1930 allowed for the informal entry of articles that have a retail value of $800 or less and are imported by one person in one day. These de minimis shipments were generally free of duty and taxes and subject to expedited clearance processing.
However, an EO eliminated the de minimis exemption for low-value packages from China and Hong Kong as of May 2, 2025. The president subsequently signed into law a bill terminating the exemption for commercial shipments from all countries as of July 1, 2027, and issued a separate EO moving that date up to Aug. 29, 2025.
An auto parts retailer and distributor filed suit and asked the CIT to hold the EOs to be unlawful and halt their enforcement. The company argued that, following the Supreme Court’s decision that IEEPA does not authorize the president to impose import tariffs, the president also lacks the authority to rescind the de minimis exemption under that statute.
However, the CIT concluded that IEEPA’s provision allowing the president to “nullify, void, prevent or prohibit … exercising any right, power, or privilege with respect to … any property in which any foreign country or a national thereof has any interest by any person” includes the power to void the de minimis exemption, which creates a privilege. The CIT added that such action does not run afoul of separation of powers principles because (1) it imposes no new import duties and is therefore not an exercise of the power of the purse (as was the imposition of tariffs under IEEPA) and (2) it constitutes the exercise of a lawful delegation of discretion to execute the law, not the exercise of an unlawful delegation of power to make the law.
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