{"id":44912,"date":"2026-08-14T18:35:38","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T13:35:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=44912"},"modified":"2026-08-14T18:35:38","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T13:35:38","slug":"trump-wins-legal-battle-to-keep-cheap-imports-subject-to-tariffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=44912","title":{"rendered":"Trump wins legal battle to keep cheap imports subject to tariffs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/wcM-C3hW07DVcD1S6hH_uFy0tg8=\/0x158:6000x3533\/1366x768\/2026\/08\/13\/1786647221605.jpeg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>A federal trade court ruled Thursday that President Trump can block cheap imports \u2014 including from Chinese retailers like Temu and Shein \u2014 from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2025\/07\/30\/trump-tariffs-de-minimis-copper-brazil\" target=\"_blank\">entering the U.S. tariff-free<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Why it matters:<\/strong> It&#8217;s a win for the Trump administration&#8217;s trade agenda after  a major legal setback forced officials to find new legal avenues for imposing sweeping tariffs.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<ul>\n<li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cit.uscourts.gov\/sites\/cit\/files\/26-94.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Court of International Trade ruling<\/a> means that Trump&#8217;s suspension of the so-called de minimis exemption, which allowed packages worth $800 or less to enter the U.S. tariff-free, can continue.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What they&#8217;re saying: <\/strong>Trump took a victory lap on social media shortly after the ruling.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;For years, Foreign Shippers could send packages worth up to $800 into our Country, DUTY FREE, NO TARIFF, far less scrutiny,&#8221; Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/%40realDonaldTrump\/posts\/117089653850664292\" target=\"_blank\">posted on Truth Social<\/a>. <\/li>\n<li>&#8220;It became a giant loophole for TARIFF Cheats \u2014 and a Pipeline exploited by Fentanyl Traffickers, Counterfeiters, and other Criminals shipping dangerous and illegal products into America.&#8221; <\/li>\n<li>The president&#8217;s suspension of the exemption brought in about $1 billion in duties in 2025, U.S. Customs and Border Protection <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbp.gov\/newsroom\/national-media-release\/cbp-collects-1-billion-end-de-minimis-loophole?utm_source=chatgpt.com\" target=\"_blank\">said last year<\/a>. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Reality check:<\/strong> Congress established <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2025\/07\/30\/trump-tariffs-shein-temu-de-minimis\" target=\"_blank\">the de minimis exemption<\/a> in 1938 to avoid the cost and burden of collecting duties on low-value shipments. Its use has exploded alongside the huge rise of e-commerce. <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Trump officials have framed the crackdown as a matter of public safety, suspending de minimis treatment for shipments from China and Hong Kong last year before expanding the policy globally a few months later.<\/li>\n<li>The Trump administration suspended the exemption under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the law the Supreme Court <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/02\/20\/supreme-court-tariff-ruling-trump-ieepa\" target=\"_blank\">ruled earlier this year<\/a> could not be used to impose tariffs. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Zoom in:<\/strong> That blockbuster ruling did not address whether IEEPA could be used to void the de minimis exemption, the same question at the heart of the Court of International Trade&#8217;s ruling.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In a unanimous ruling, the three-judge panel said that the text of IEEPA allows the president to cancel certain &#8220;privileges&#8221; \u2014 and the de minimis statute itself describes duty-free treatment as a &#8220;privilege,&#8221; according to the opinion.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Of note: <\/strong>Thursday&#8217;s ruling largely determines whether Trump can keep the exemption suspended until a permanent repeal takes effect next July.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Congress eliminated the de minimis exemption in Trump&#8217;s tax cut and spending bill, effective next July. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The bottom line:<\/strong> Ending de minimis upended the business model that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2025\/05\/02\/temu-china-trump-tariffs-de-minimis\" target=\"_blank\">helped Temu<\/a> and Shein sell ultra-cheap goods to U.S. shoppers, pushing up costs and, in some cases, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2025\/04\/16\/shein-temu-price-increase-trump-tariffs-de-minimis\" target=\"_blank\">forcing changes<\/a> to their supply chains.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>That crackdown on tariff-free cheap imports looks here to stay, and it&#8217;s spreading globally, with Europe also eliminating its own exemption for cheap imported packages. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A federal trade court ruled Thursday that President Trump can block cheap imports \u2014 including from Chinese retailers like Temu and Shein \u2014 from entering the U.S. tariff-free. Why it matters: It&#8217;s a win for the Trump administration&#8217;s trade agenda after a major legal setback forced officials to find new legal avenues for imposing sweeping&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44913,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/wcM-C3hW07DVcD1S6hH_uFy0tg8=\/0x158:6000x3533\/1366x768\/2026\/08\/13\/1786647221605.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/44913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}