ISTANBUL, Turkiye: A federal trade court on Thursday (Aug. 13) upheld United States (US) President Donald Trump’s elimination of the ‘de minimis‘ exemption, which allowed low-value goods to enter the US tax free, Anadolu Ajansi reported.
Trump celebrated on his Truth Social platform, calling it a “BIG WIN” and describing the exemption as one of the “most DESPICABLE loopholes in American Trade Policy”.
He said packages worth up to USD800 had entered the country duty free with less scrutiny, creating a loophole for tariff evasion, as well as fentanyl traffickers, counterfeiters and other criminals.
Trump said the exemption cost the US an estimated USD10.8 billion in foregone tariff revenue in 2024.
“So, we CLOSED IT,” he wrote, adding that the court had confirmed his legal authority to rescind the “privilege”.
Detroit Axle sued the administration in May 2025, arguing Trump lacked authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to end the exemption.
Trump had also invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) for his sweeping “liberation day” tariffs, which the Supreme Court struck down in February, ruling the law did not authorise them.
A three-judge panel of the US Court of International Trade ruled Thursday, however, that IEEPA does permit Trump to eliminate the ‘de minimis’ exemption, according to the CNBC network.
“In reaching this conclusion, we find that the President’s power to ‘nullify [or] void . . . exercising any . . . privilege’ does not run afoul of separation of powers principles,” the judges wrote, quoting the law.
They said the exemption’s removal “is not an exercise of the power of the purse” and “is not an exercise of the power to legislate”. – BERNAMA-ANADOLU
