Ep 379: How posts can be prepared for US shutting down de minimis

Update: 2025-08-19

Description

President Trump has decided to suspend duty-free de minimis for the USA, effective 29 August. Aaron Bezzant, Head of Supply Chain at Zonos, discusses the background to the President's Executive Order, what it means for e-commerce and the postal world, and what steps need to be taken to be compliant.

The details of President Trump's Executive Order
Previous attempt at eliminating de minimis for the postal stream
Customs and Border Protection and USPS collection processes
Duties for China Post and Hongkong Post shipments
Tactics used to exploit previous de minimis crackdown on Chinese-made goods
Compliance that has to be in place to meet 29 August deadline
Effective mandate on DDP
Bona fide gift exemption for low-value items
How postal operators can start the journey to be compliant by 29 August
Temporary simplified tariffs
Remittance requirements and options from 29 August
MFN and IEEPA tariff rates
Role of third party in collecting funds and remitting to CBP
Who ends up paying the duties?
How Zonos can help pre-collect duties and taxes
Why building a postal DDP network is central to winning in e-commerce delivery
The importance of DDP for goods shipped to the USA
Zonos tools and systems for postal operators for handling tariffs, including collection
Other Zonos tools for posts to help e-commerce retailers
Zonos app to facilitate over-the-counter lodgement of international parcels
Simplifying the start online finish in-store process for post office parcel lodgement
Helping postal operators no matter what stage of the digital transformation journey they're at
Simple calculation tools