[This article was produced with the assistance of Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini.]

Governments across the world are rethinking and rolling back de minimis exceptions, which exempt low-value imports from duties and taxes. Historically, these thresholds have reduced the logistical challenges of customs officials having to inspect and collect duties on every single import package and allowed consumers and small businesses to import small parcels with minimal paperwork and no duties, supporting global e-commerce. But that era is coming to an end.

Vexed by surging e-commerce volumes and the need to level the playing field for domestic retailers, these governments began a wave of regulatory changes that are curbing low-value cross-border trade as of early 2026. The list of economies that have ended or moved to tighten de minimis exemptions now includes the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Türkiye, Vietnam, Thailand, Mexico, and Japan, which have all announced or implemented major reforms to their de minimis rules, joining a trend in which trade efficiency takes a backseat to other priorities that would supposedly safeguard domestic retailers from intensifying foreign competition and increase state revenue (see Table 1).

Table 1: Selected economies current de minimis thresholds and policy changes

Economy	Current de minimis threshold (duty/value-added tax (VAT)-goods and services tax (GST) where relevant)	Current and planned policy changes
US	Abolished de minimis	The US suspended its US$800 duty-free threshold as of 29 August 2025.¹
Mexico	Abolished de minimis (from US$50 threshold previously)	Mexico eliminated the de minimis exemption for most courier shipments as of January 2025. A global tax rate of 33.5% applies for all shipments valued up to US$2,500 as of 1 January 2026 (shipments from US and Canada under US$50 remain exempt from duties and VAT).²
Türkiye	Abolished de minimis (exemptions provided to medicines and dietary supplements)	As of 6 February 2026, Türkiye removed its €30 (approximately US$35) threshold (including shipping costs) on e-commerce shipments. Previously, shipments below the threshold already incurred a single, fixed customs charge of 30% for items shipped from the EU and 60% for those from non-EU countries.³
Vietnam	Abolished de minimis	Vietnam ended its VND1,000,000 (approximately US$40) duty and VAT exemption for low-value imports, effective 18 February 2025⁴.
Thailand	Abolished de minimis	Thailand ended its duty and tax exemption for imported goods valued under 1,500 baht (approximately US$46) as of 1 January 2026.⁵
EU	€150 duty de minimis	The EU agreed to apply a fixed customs duty of €3 on small parcels valued at less than €150 (approximately US$178) entering the EU from 1 July 2026 as a temporary measure.⁶
UK	£135 duty de minimis	The UK plans to remove the exemption by March 2029.⁷
Japan	¥10,000 (for consumption tax / low-value import relief)	Japan's Finance Ministry intends to review the ¥10,000 (approximately US$64) low-value exemption by 2026 as part of e-commerce customs reform⁸ and is seeking to abolish a provision providing for reduced taxation of personal imports where individuals pay tax on only 60% of a product's value.⁹

Source: Author’s compilation

Note: VAT or GST are consumption taxes levied on goods and services.

The US formally ended the US$800 duty-free threshold on 29 August 2025. US policymakers have criticized this threshold, which was one of the highest globally, as a loophole that enabled illicit drugs and circumvention of tariffs. Despite being implemented in two phases, first for goods from China and Hong Kong in May 2025 and then extended globally in August, significant disruptions for express carriers and postal networks shipping to the US were felt in the initial phase of reform given the large volumes of low-value shipments entering the US (around 1.36 billion shipments in 2024) requiring full customs clearance procedures as well as calculation and collection of duties.^{10 11}

Mexico eliminated its de minimis exemption in January 2025 in response to concerns regarding the abuse of the de minimis rule — particularly the transshipment of low-value goods to circumvent higher US duties. The country applied a global duty rate of 19% for most courier shipments. On 1 January 2026, Mexico increased this rate significantly to 33.5%, effectively equalizing the tax burden on low-value courier shipments (valued up to US$2,500) with the duties applied through formal customs clearance procedures.¹² However, Mexico retained preferential treatment for United States‑Mexico‑Canada Agreement (USMCA) partners due to its free trade agreement (FTA) obligation: shipments from the US and Canada valued at US$50 or less remain fully exempt, while goods valued between US$50 and US$117 face a reduced rate of 17%. In contrast, Mexico’s other FTA partners receive only a symbolic US$1 duty-free threshold, underscoring how its policy prioritizes North American trade over broader FTA commitments.

Türkiye has also tightened its approach and removed its de minimis this year. It previously lowered its de minimis threshold to €30 (down from €150) in August 2024, under which imports below the threshold incurred a lump sum tax at 30% for items shipped from the EU and 60% for those from non-EU countries. Türkiye scrapped this threshold for simplified customs clearance and lower taxation for all international e-commerce shipments as of 6 February 2026.¹³ Instead of the simplified two-tiered tax structure, all e-commerce shipments now undergo regular customs clearance and pay the full taxes and tariffs for e-commerce imports, effectively halting previous workarounds of sending e-commerce parcels through the EU at a lower 30% rate. As VAT (around 20% for most consumer goods) and tariffs tend to be high in Türkiye (ranging from 30% to more than 200%), selling low-value goods directly to consumers in Türkiye may no longer be a commercially viable option.¹⁴ E-commerce firms like Temu no longer allow users in Türkiye to place international orders and Shein has temporarily suspended sales.¹⁵

While the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has consistently committed to trade liberalization and regional integration, the dynamics appear to have shifted as more ASEAN members are now adopting policies such as de minimis elimination and VAT enforcement to protect their domestic industry without breaking their FTA commitments. Vietnam abolished its VND1,000,000 (approximately US$40) duty and VAT exemption for low-value imports shipped via express delivery on 18 February 2025, ending over a decade of tax-free treatment for small consignments.¹⁶ Thailand eliminated its THB1,500 (approximately US$46) de minimis threshold on 1 January 2026. Imported goods now incur customs duties plus a 7% VAT.¹⁷ Indonesia adopted a similar approach even earlier, slashing its de minimis threshold from US$75 to just US$3 back in 2020.

Following the US and other countries that have removed duty de minimis exemptions, the EU and the UK plan to abolish their respective customs duty exemption thresholds of €150 as early as 2026 for the EU and £135 for the UK by 2029. Both the UK and the EU have already eliminated their VAT de minimis regimes in earlier reforms. The UK removed its VAT relief on commercial imports of goods valued at £15 on 31 December 2020 and the EU abolished its €22 VAT exemption on 1 July 2021.

In December 2025, EU member states reached a consensus on the introduction of a temporary customs duty of €3 per item (by Harmonized System (HS) code) on e-commerce parcels valued below €150, set to take effect in July 2026. This flat rate avoids the administrative complexity of applying product-specific tariffs but penalizes the sale of low-value items where additional duties could exceed the product value itself. Additional measures may follow for the EU as discussions are underway on the imposition of an additional handling fee for customs operations, with potential implementation targeted for November 2026. The UK, meanwhile, is studying possible approaches and soliciting public feedback (open till 6 March 2026) on a proposed tariff framework for low-value imports, expected to be enacted before March 2029.

Japan is also considering customs reforms on e-commerce and taxation. In the tax reform for fiscal 2026, its finance ministry aims to abolish a provision for personal imports that reduces the taxable amount payable by individuals. Currently, individuals pay tax on only 60% of a product's value which encourages consumption and importation. The ministry will also be reviewing the ¥10,000 threshold (approximately US$46) for low-value exemption.¹⁸

This has resulted in fragmented e-commerce policies worldwide. Both advanced and developing economies have introduced divergent reforms affecting de minimis thresholds and taxation policies for low-value imports, ranging from reduced thresholds to their complete elimination, alongside different ways to levy customs duties — including flat charges, fixed or tiered duties, and product-specific tariffs. This creates a patchwork of policies that ramps up compliance complexity for e-commerce platforms and small businesses.

As policy fragmentation intensifies, efforts driven by multilateral organizations can help balance trade facilitation — historically a core trade policy priority — against mounting national concerns about customs revenue loss, domestic industry protection, and enforcement challenges perpetuated by rising e-commerce consignment volumes. The vast majority of World Trade Organization (WTO) members (162 members) have committed to reduce customs red tape and expedite border clearance under the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) but such efforts have yet to produce binding disciplines that harmonize de minimis thresholds or methods for collection of e-commerce duties. The agreement omits specific guidelines on de minimis and merely encourages countries to provide “…a de minimis shipment value or dutiable amount for which customs duties and taxes will not be collected…”. This intended ambiguity and non-binding language, which allowed countries to set their own de minimis values and even apply generous thresholds, has similarly permitted their elimination.

To prevent a spiral of unilateral measures that could upend decades of trade liberalization efforts and make e-commerce prohibitively complex and costly for small sellers, international organizations like the WTO and World Customs Organization (WCO) could serve as forums to discuss and develop guidelines on de minimis policies and the administration of e-commerce duties and taxation. This may include coordinating simplification of customs entries for low-value e-commerce shipments and identifying best practices to streamline duty and tax calculation and their collection. The institutional architecture already exists. The WTO and WCO both have existing bodies that oversee implementation of customs trade facilitation commitments, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has produced comprehensive guidance on e-commerce taxation that governments can reference.¹⁹ However, actions need to be taken quickly. With major economies like the US having eliminated their de minimis regimes and the EU to follow suit, the window for effective multilateral intervention to develop common principles that help guide countries in designing and administering their e-commerce de minimis and taxation policies is rapidly closing.