Eliminating the de minimis execption makes a lot of sense for a country that wants to control foreign trade with tariffs. Europe has a similar exception, and is also thinking about eliminating it. If you have millions of small packages every day which you don’t control, there is a lot of cheating going on: In extremis some of these packages actually contain the fentanyl Trump says he wants to stop. But more likely is cheating about the value of goods, or sending goods that don’t comply with various safety regulations and consumer protection rules. One can easily imagine a country with good governance eliminating the control exception for small parcels with a few months of advance warning, while simultaneously hiring a lot of custom inspectors. Doing it without warning and no additional personnel is going to cause a state of utter chaos.

Working as intended is another consequence: A big hit on companies like Temu and Shein, who built their whole business model on this de minimis shipping exception. The same is true for every small drop shipper. Sending small parcels half way around the world isn’t inherently efficient, and only makes sense with that customs exception.