President Trump's decision to charge import duties for low value goods entering
the US is a major blow to the UK's SME exporters, says the British Chambers of
Commerce (BCC).
Under an Executive Order issued by the President, duties will be payable on goods
valued under $800 from 29 August 2025. These will be in line with the rates
applied to other goods from each country in accordance with its tariff rates.
For most UK goods export sectors this means the tariff rate they used to have
plus the additional 10% reciprocal rate applied to most UK goods since April.
Alternatively, for the first six months only, a specific rate of $80 per item
would apply to low value packages from the UK entering the US. After that
period, the duties described above will be enforced on all packages of UK origin
in scope.
William Bain, Head of Trade Policy, said:
'This development has been coming for several months but is still a major
blow to UK exporters to the US. Smaller firms and sole traders, who have
invested strongly in e-commerce sales internationally, will be worst
hit.
'But the UK is in a comparatively advantageous position in terms of these
additional duties compared with those faced by other countries.
'The EU is also likely to scrap its de minimis threshold by 2028, and the UK
government is launching a review into removing the threshold here too.'
Internet link: White House BCC