Trump triples tariffs on low value packages from China and Hong Kong

Donald Trump is making it even more expensive for US consumers to shop online from Chinese retailers like Temu and Shein. In an executive order amendment published Tuesday night, Trump raised the tariff rate for packages valued under $800 entering the US from China and Hong Kong that previously were exempt. The increase essentially triples what shoppers would have paid previously.

Under a previous tariff package hitting Chinese imports, sub-$800 packages were subject to a 30 percent tariff on the total value of the package, or $25 per postal item. Now, those rates have jumped to 90 percent of the value or $75 per postal item. The White House didn’t immediately clarify which of the two rates packages would be subject to — the executive order suggests carriers can opt for “either” method.

The skyrocketing tariffs on de minimis packages is part of the ongoing trade war Trump is waging on the rest of the world — China in particular. After China announced retaliatory tariffs on the US, Trump again increased the taxes on the country’s products, which now amount to a staggering 104 percent.

China is an epicenter of manufacturing for the world, and the US is the world†…

Read the full story at The Verge.