White House's 245% tariff figure for some Chinese products causes confusion
White House's 245% tariff figure for some Chinese products causes confusion
www.usatoday.com
White House's 245% tariff figure for some Chinese products causes confusion
28 comments
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So how does this all work in practice? You order something from China and it will be sent over on a ship. At what point do you pay for the item, what steps does it go through to get to you, and how/when do you pay the tariff to the government?
Say you pay the Chinese company $100 online for your order and they ship it. So it arrives on US soil. Who picks it up there, the USPS? Who determines what the tariff amount should be and collects it? Some shipping company or port authority inspector or what? At what point does someone deliver it to you and collect the tariff from you?
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So the way this works is the importer of record pays the tariff when it gets to the US port.
So, scenario 1, you buy a product from an American company that imports either the whole product or some part of it from China. The American company pays the tariff and then decides how much of that to add to their costs.
Scenario 2, you buy from a Chinese seller that ships to the US like Temu. In these cases generally the seller is the importer of record, so they pay all applicable tariffs on your behalf, but in order to do so they'll add it to your bill along with the shipping.
Scenario 3, you buy from a company in China that ships directly to you without acting as an importer. There are a bunch of options for this where you basically order stuff direct from manufacturers, and it seems like it's going to be way cheaper because there are no tariffs or other import fees. But in reality what happens here is you are now the importer of record. There's two ways this will play out; the government will either hold the item at the port of entry until you pay the fees, or it'll arrive and then you'll get a bill for the fees later. This can be really dangerous because you can end paying a whole lot more than you expected to.
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There’s your next spam scam, then. “You owe tariffs on the goods you received from Amazon, pony up”
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We get a lot of those here in Europe.
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Thanks! that's very clear.
So the main thing I wasn't understanding was the idea that a seller like Temu would actually pay the tariff ahead of time--I didn't realize they would do that, just figured they'd get paid for the product, ship it off and let the other end of the line deal with the tariffs part.
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It depends on the seller. Generally if they're set up to do business properly in the US, yes, they'll take off things like tariffs and fees, because if they don't it just tends to result in pissed off customers who refuse to pay the tariffs and then charge back on their credit card when they don't receive their goods. It just makes more sense to handle all that on the customer's behalf. Happy customers buy more things. When in doubt you need to contact their customer service and ask.
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Didn't Trump flaunt a Department of External Revenue?
Such a profound lack of understanding what tariffs are and who pays them....
It's the consumer; the end user.
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If you're unable to answer the questions, just don't respond.
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If you cant handle comments, dont ask questions
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No one has to answer your questions. They can make whatever comments they want. No need to be an ass.
The tariffs are simply an import duty and they are calculated by HS code and product origin. They are paid by an import agent at the point of import before the goods are released.
In practice many items sent by courier will not get any duty historically. It depends what, if anything, customs decide to do. I don't think the manpower exists to look at every package and charge accordingly.
They'll just do it for randomly selected shipments, much like only a handful of shipping containers will get customs checks each day. It's not practical to apply it across the board, so the tariffs will be based almost entirely on paperwork. There's nothing at all stopping a seller from misdeclaring origin and value on paperwork to avoid duties, but why would they when the tariffs don't have any bearing on the sellers?
There was a de minimis exception for anything under 800 USD for courier shipments, but numbnuts got rid of that too.
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Such a profound lack of understanding what tariffs are and who pays them…
They were the ass. Nothing in my post indicated I don't understand what they are and who pays them. I was asking about how the process works in practice.
(edit: replying to new stuff added to post):
I don’t think the manpower exists to look at every package and charge accordingly.
This was part of my confusion as to how the tariffs were getting calculated and charged. One person said they were getting calculated when being cleared through customs, which would mean that every shipment would have to be processed and calculated at that time, or at least verified if it had already been pre-calculated.
So that certainly seems to justify the de minimus exceptions, since the cost of dealing with small-value shipments would be higher than what would be gained from the tariffs on them. Now they've removed that exception for China--I suppose they figure the huge increase in tariff rates will make up for that cost.
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Pretty sure they were saying trump has a lack of understanding of tariffs.
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And again, no one has to type words you want to hear. No one has to answer your specific questions.
The comment was simply saying (as far as I understood it) that the administration seems to have no idea what tariffs are nor how to use them to their benefit.
You were being the ass by somehow deciding your questions and views are the only important ones, and that any response must be on your terms or is worthy of scorn.
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I didn't express any views about it, just asked for help understanding how the process worked and got an insult as the first reply. No, they don't have to answer and yes, they can just post a disparaging reply if they want, but I am also allowed to respond and defend myself as well.
Several people, including you in your edit, provided helpful information, and I thank all those who posted helpful replies.
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I don't see this supposed insult that got you worked up. The commenter stated that Trump supposedly has a department for this, but evidently no one knows what they are doing in said department, or indeed the administration as a whole on this issue.
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As I recall, normally when sending packages internationally, one has to declare what an item is and its value.
So that'll mean that customs knows how much is involved.kagis
https://www.usps.com/international/customs-forms.htm
Customs Forms
Filling Out Customs Forms Online
When you ship items from the U.S. to another country, you must fill out customs forms (except for First-Class Mail International® letters and large envelopes under 15.994 oz):
- The form you need depends on the USPS® mail service you use (and the total value of what you send).
- You can print just a customs form or use Click-N-Ship® service to pay for postage and print an international shipping label and a customs form.
kagis
Sounds like at least USPS can do a "receiver-pays" service.
https://www.cbp.gov/trade/basic-import-export/internet-purchases
Importing Process Paying Duty: The importer is ultimately responsible for paying any duty owed on an import. Determining duty can be very complicated, and while shipping services will often give an estimate for what the duty rate on an item might be, only CBP can make a final determination about what is owed. You should not be misled into thinking your purchase price includes duty because the seller cannot say with absolute certainty what the duty will be. As a rule, a purchase price that includes shipping and handling does not include duty or any costs associated with clearing the goods through CBP. First time importers are often surprised by bills they receive for duty, U.S. Customs and Border Protection merchandise processing fee, and something referred to as "customs fees," which are actually charges for the services of the broker who cleared your goods through CBP.
How you pay duty depends on how your goods were shipped. If your goods were shipped through the International Postal Service, you will need to pay the mail carrier and/or go to your local post office to pay any duty and processing fees owed when your package arrives at that post office. If your goods were sent by a courier service, that service will either bill you for the duty they paid on your behalf or require payment on delivery.
IIRC, there's a de minimis exception, where one doesn't have to pay fees on items below a certain value in a single shipment. There was some controversy over this, as it meant that someone who did bulk imports from China to the US and sold things via, say, Amazon would have to pay tariffs, but someone who imported a single unit via AliBaba or something wouldn't. This had been giving AliBaba a benefit, because it could sell tariff-free. And there was discussion about revising this, to people selling via AliBaba and Amazon.
kagis
Yeah:
https://www.yondatax.com/blog/how-to-handle-us-china-tariffs-and-the-end-of-de-minimis
And while the president has been relatively quiet on the topic of de minimis—the long-standing policy that allows goods under $800 to enter the U.S. without duty—new guidance from the White House signals big change. As of early April, de minimis exemptions for goods from China are ending.
Starting May 2, 2025, the U.S. is ending de minimis exemptions for goods coming from China and Hong Kong.
Right now, the de minimis rule—under 19 U.S.C. § 1321(a)(2)C)—lets one shipment per person, per day, valued at $800 or less enter the U.S. without paying duty or import tax.
That benefit is going away specifically for China and Hong Kong. For now, it will still apply to other countries—but that could change in the future.
EDIT: Tariffs in general aren't new, though. Like, Trump increased tariffs, but we always had tariffs on things. So the infrastructure will already be in place.
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Thanks! Yes, I had read that the de minimis exception was removed for China.
So that sounds like CBP is calculating the tariffs for everything when it arrives, then the postal service takes it from there and collects what you owe when you pick it up from them or they deliver it to you. I guess that makes sense. I just wonder if even CBP even knows what the correct current rates are, based on the article. I guess they do, but the people/companies importing stuff probably don't and might be quite surprised at what they get charged!
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