The end of US de minimis, in order
Last checked 7 September 2026. Every claim below links to the document it came from; where nothing official says it, this page says so instead.
Almost every guide to buying from Japan was written when a parcel under $800 arrived without duty. That stopped being true in August 2025, and the rules have changed three more times since. This is the sequence, with the document behind each step.
30 July 2025 — the order is signed
Executive Order 14324 suspends duty-free de minimis treatment for all countries. It also sets out two ways to charge postal shipments: a duty equal to the effective IEEPA tariff rate for the country of origin, or a flat amount per package — $80, $160 or $200 depending on that rate. The flat option is written to last six months and no longer.
27 August 2025 — Japan Post stops sending
Japan Post suspends acceptance of US-bound mail containing goods, and gifts worth more than $100, because there is no process yet for paying the duty the order requires.
29 August 2025 — the exemption ends
The order takes effect. Goods valued at $800 or less lose duty-free treatment regardless of country of origin, mode of transport or method of entry.
End of February 2026 — the flat option lapses
The six-month window in the order closes, and postal shipments must use the ad valorem method. The per-package option is worth remembering for scale: a $200-per-item duty on a ¥400 capsule toy would have been about fifty times the price of the toy. In practice CBP records that every qualified party chose the ad valorem method anyway.
20 February 2026 — the interim rate is set
Executive Order 14388 continues the suspension, and ties the postal duty rate to Proclamation 11012 of the same day, which imposed a 10% ad valorem surcharge under section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 for a period of 150 days. For several months, that flat 10% was the whole of the duty on a low-value postal parcel.
14 April 2026 — Japan Post starts again
Acceptance resumes, on the condition that the sender prepays the US duty through an application run by a party CBP has approved, and marks the label DDP. Only designated post offices take these parcels.
8 July 2026 — CPSC eFiling becomes mandatory
Certificates of compliance for regulated consumer products, toys included, must be filed electronically with the customs entry, at any shipment value.
24 July 2026 — the rule replaces the order
CBP's interim final rule takes effect. The postal de minimis suspension becomes a regulation with no end date. A new postal informal entry replaces the interim process: a 10-digit HTSUS classification is now required, so all applicable duties are assessed rather than the flat 10%; the filing needs a filer code and a bond; and CBP stops preparing entry forms, so duty is no longer collected on delivery. Japan Post raises its prepayment ceiling from $800 to $2,500 to match.
Why it matters for a ¥400 toy
Twice in a year, the arithmetic of importing a cheap item changed in a direction that favours buying it from a US store — first because duty started applying at all, then because the flat 10% gave way to whatever the classification says, with a filing and a bond behind it. Neither change touches what a US importer charges you, because duty on that route was already paid by the importer and priced in.
Sources
- Executive Order 14324, 30 July 2025 — the suspension, the two methodologies, and the six-month limit on the flat option
- Notice of Implementation of Executive Order 14324, 2 September 2025
- CBP, Indefinite Suspension of the De Minimis Exemption for Mail Shipments, effective 24 July 2026 — also the source for E.O. 14388, Proclamation 11012 and the choices qualified parties made
- Japan Post, 13 April 2026 and 14 July 2026 notices
- CPSC, mandatory eFiling
