Court upholds Trump's scrapping of no import taxes for goods under $800
by Paul Godfrey · UPIAug. 14 (UPI) -- A federal trade court threw out a legal challenge to President Trump's executive order scrapping the so-called "de minimis" exemption loophole under which goods worth less than $800 could enter the United States duty free.
Three judges sitting in the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled Thursday that Trump had the legal authority to invoke the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to eliminate de minimis, in contrast to his April 2025 "liberation day" global tariffs which it ruled were unlawful, a decision the Supreme Court subsequently upheld.
"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," they wrote in their judgment.
The judges found the removal of the exemption did not constitute "an exercise of the power of the purse" and "is not an exercise of the power to legislate."
In the global tariffs case, the Supreme Court came to the opposite conclusion, ruling that Trump could not act without approval from Congress.
Trump hailed Thursday's ruling as a "big win" for his resolve to get rid of what he said was a "ridiculous giveaway... one of the most DESPICABLE loopholes in American Trade Policy" that he said was costing the U.S. Treasury more than $10 billion in revenue from tariffs that it would otherwise receive.
"For years, Foreign Shippers could send packages worth up to $800 into our Country, DUTY FREE, NO TARIFF, far less scrutiny. It became a giant loophole for TARIFF Cheats -- and a Pipeline exploited by Fentanyl Traffickers, Counterfeiters, and other Criminals shipping dangerous and illegal products into America. The numbers were staggering. In 2024 alone, de minimis cost America an estimated 10.8 BILLION DOLLARS in foregone TARIFF Revenue, and an astonishing share of narcotics and counterfeit seizures came through the de minimis channel," said Trump.
Detroit Axle, a Michigan-based auto-parts distributor, brought the de minimis case last year on grounds Trump had overstepped his authority under IEEPA. The firm's legal counsel did not immediately comment on the ruling.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection netted more than a billion dollars in 2025 from the ending of de minimis and the court ruling clears the way for it to continue until it is permanently eliminated when Trump's One Big Beautiful tax cut and spending bill kicks in next July.
This week in Washington
Members of the National Guard patrol near the Washington Monument on Tuesday. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo