I thought I had outsmarted Donald Trump’s tariffs, but I was wrong. Well, at least sort of.
On August 29, the US government officially ended an 87-year-old rule that allowed Americans to import small packages tariff-free. Known as the de minimis exemption, the policy had allowed shipments under a certain value threshold—$800 in recent years—to clear customs without paying any duties. Policymakers have been debating changing de minimis for years, but when it finally happened, the move still sent shock waves through the global ecommerce and shipping industries.
Twelve days before the new rule went into effect, I placed an order on Etsy for a set of custom wooden slats to
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