Senators urge Biden to end duty-free treatment for overseas packages valued at less than $800

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two United States senators looking to crack down on the number of packages from China that enter the country duty-free are calling for President Joe Biden to take executive action, saying American manufacturers can't compete with low-cost competitors they say rely on forced labour and state subsidies in key sectors.

US trade law allows packages bound for American consumers and valued below a certain threshold to enter tariff-free.

That threshold, under a category known as “de minimis,” stands at $800 per person, per day.

The majority of the imports are retail products purchased online.

Alarmed by the large increase in such shipments from China, lawmakers in both chambers have filed legislation to alter how the US treats imports valued at less than $800.

Now, Senators Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Rick Scott, R-Fla., have sent a letter to Biden calling on him to end the duty-free treatment altogether for those products.

“The situation has reached a tipping point where vast sections of American manufacturing and retail are at stake if de minimis is not immediately addressed,” the senators wrote.

Brown and Scott singled out Temu, Shein and AliExpress in their letter as companies that “unfairly” benefit from the duty-free treatment of their goods.

The surge in shipments, they said, hurts big box stores and other retailers in the US.

“This out-of-control problem impacts the safety and livelihoods of Americans, outsourcing not only our manufacturing, but also our retail sectors to China, which — as you know — systematically utilises slave labour among other unconscionable practises to undermine our economy,” the senators said.

The White House referred questions to the Office of the US Trade Representative, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter provided to The Associated Press.

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