The De Minimis Reciprocity Act (S.1969)

The De Minimis Reciprocity Act of 2023 (S.1969) was introduced in the Senate on June 14, 2023, on a bipartisan basis, by Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and J.D. Vance (R-OH).

The bill would:

• Prohibit goods from China and Russia from being imported via “de minimis” tax-free entry.
• Require the Secretary of the Treasury to publish a list of additional countries each year whose imports are not eligible for “de minimis” entry. The list will consider: 
  • Whether the country violates the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act of 2021 (UFLPA) 
  • Whether the country allows transshipment of goods from countries on the list
  • Whether the country exports counterfeit goods 
  • Whether the government of the country is committed to the fight against trafficking in persons, illegal narcotics, and terrorism. This would disqualify imports from countries designated as “Tier 3” in the annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report.
  • Require the Secretary of the Treasury to establish a specific “de minimis” threshold for all other countries, taking into consideration those countries’ import taxes on U.S. goods.
  • Disallow de minimis imports via the mail, and only allow private “contract carriers” organized under US law to facilitate de minimis imports into the U.S. Note: This would end Temu entries, which use the postal service for delivery.
• Require more information on every package entering the U.S.:
  • Detailed product category under the “Harmonized Tariff Schedule”
  • Country of origin 
  • Country of manufacture if different from country of origin
  • Shipper of record
  • Importer of record
  • Description of the article
  • Fair market value in the United States
• Use the revenue derived from goods that would otherwise have paid no tariff, to establish a fund for reshoring industry from China.    

Read the full text: https://www.cassidy.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/de_minimis_bill.pdf