April 2, 2025 – The U.S. government issued an executive order announcing a baseline 10% tariff uplift on most imported goods, with higher rates for specific countries deemed to engage in “unfair trade practices.” Here is an overview of what e-commerce businesses need to know:
Reciprocal Tariffs
The new “reciprocal” tariffs will be applied on top of any existing tariffs and are scheduled to take effect in two steps: on April 5 for the baseline rate of 10%, and April 9 for the increased rates targeting dozens of countries, including China and the European Union. The rates for some key markets are:
| 🇨🇳 China | 34% |
| 🇪🇺 European Union | 20% |
| 🇯🇵 Japan | 24% |
| 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | 10% |
| 🇻🇳 Vietnam | 46% |
Notably, products from Canada and Mexico are excluded from the tariff uplift. The Chinese rate of 34% comes on top of all previous rate uplifts. Glopal will apply all duty rate updates in due course.
The reciprocal tariffs are determined based on the product's country of origin, regardless of where the product is shipped from. While the executive order excludes some product categories (e.g. pharmaceuticals), essentially all e-commerce-relevant products are affected.
Example 1: Increased duties on importing a dress manufactured in China from April 9th:
Example 2: Tripling duties on EU manufactured handbags from April 9th:
Elimination of De-Minimis Rule
The U.S. duty de minimis allows shipments valued at $800 or less to enter the United States duty-free.
The executive order also sets a date to eliminate this de minimis exemption for low-value imports of China (and Hong Kong) products, effective May 2, 2025. Any shipment containing a product from China or Hong Kong entering the United States will be affected, regardless of the value or location of the seller or warehouse.
Shipments under $800 sent through the international postal network will be subject to either a duty rate of 30% or $25 per item (increasing to $50 per item after June 1, 2025). Shipments shipped with express carriers will be subject to all regular and additional duties.
*The U.S. briefly suspended the de minimis exemption on China products in February before reinstating it due to capacity issues in duty collection systems.
Importantly, the $800 de minimis exemption will also be eliminated for all other countries once “adequate systems are in place to fully and expeditiously process and collect duty revenue.”
HoW GLOPAL CAN HELP YOU
- With our powerful B2B2C solution, merchants leverage their U.S. subsidiary to import goods using the lower inter-company transfer price. Parcels can be shipped consolidated to further save on customs clearing fees while still benefiting from fast express delivery, thanks to Glopal's integration with express carriers advanced consolidation shipping services.
- Alternatively, merchants lower duties with Glopal's smart T&D reverse calculation solution which reverses out the duty and tax component from all-included product prices, and prepares all relevant shipping documents with the optimized product declaration values. The solution is globally compliant, and prevents what’s known as the “tax-on-tax” problem — where duties get calculated on a total that already including duties and taxes.
Recommendations
We further recommend businesses delivering to the U.S. to:
- Accurately assign the country of origin for every product to avoid unexpected tariff costs.
- Review and adjust product sourcing if possible.
- Review and update U.S. pricing of products to protect profit margins.
- Stay informed! Expect more updates in the coming days, as affected countries may negotiate or retaliate. Glopal will keep you updated.
Sources
The White House:
Executive Order
Reciprocal Tariff by Country List
Excluded HS Code List
De Minimis Exemption Fact Sheet