Eigners fan lytse bedriuwen: Wat feroare de ferstjoering fan Sina nei de FS dit jier?
If you’re a small firm that sources products from China, the past twelve months have undoubtedly felt less like a succession of policy changes and more like a moving target. The rules that governed how your packages crossed the Pacific for years were amended, disputed in court, rewritten again, and are still being adjusted as of mid 2026. Whether you’re a solo Amazon seller placing a few of refill orders a quarter or a growing brand sending a few containers a month, the practical question is the same: what actually changed, and what does it mean for your landing cost and your delivery timeline?
This article describes the particular changes in tariffs, customs entry procedures and shipping economics that small importers are facing today, and gives a real-world view of how companies are adapting their sourcing and logistics strategy in response.
The De Minimis Exemption Is Gone, and It Is Not Coming Back Soon
For years, the $800 de minimis level allowed small packages from China into the United States duty free and mostly paper free. That single criterion became the backbone of an entire generation of sourcing strategies for direct-to-consumer, from dropshipping shops to small Amazon FBA companies that shipped merchandise in modest amounts to avoid formal customs entry.
That exemption expired for goods from China in May of last year, and the adjustment has now been in place long enough that it is simply the new baseline and not a temporary inconvenience. Effective immediately, all parcels are subject to a flat per-item duty or an ad valorem charge based on the stated value, regardless of the declared value. There is no longer a duty-free ceiling for goods from China, hence it is no longer possible to organise shipments in small batches to stay under that ceiling.
The practical consequence has reverberated well beyond direct-to-consumer retailers Businesses who in the past might have sent samples, spares or minor replenishment orders via express couriers without a second thought are finding that even a modest box now generates a customs entry, a broker fee and a duty bill. First-time owners are dealing with a customs broker, for many it’s the first time.
It’s worth pausing to reflect why this matters so much for small enterprises in particular. One large importer with an in-house trade compliance staff handled this move with a spreadsheet update. “An individual founder who was running a product range out of a spare room and had built a whole business model around sending fifty small packets a month under the previous duty-free ceiling, essentially lost the basis on which their pricing was built overnight. A handful of merchants who talked publicly about the shift earlier this year said they had to pull some SKUs altogether because the new duty math just did not add up to a profitable retail price.
A New, Layered Tariff Stack Has Replaced the Old One
You may literally get ten different replies from ten importers as to what duty rate applies to their shipment, and none of them may be wrong. That’s because the tariff landscape is no longer just one figure but a series of overlapping layers, some of which have moved substantially in just the previous couple months.
The Section 301 tariffs established in 2018 are still in force, imposing a 25 percent charge on a wide range of goods categories including electronics, furniture, machinery and textiles. What has changed more lately is the layer on top of it. The Supreme Court ruled in February that the 20 percent tax on fentanyl imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act was unconstitutional and collection of the surcharge ended within days of the verdict. The administration almost quickly imposed a new 10 percent global tariff under Section 122 of the Trade Expansion Act that now covers almost all commodities from China, replacing the former duty.
| Plichtlaach | Taryf | Status yn 2026 | Is fan tapassing op |
| Tariif fan seksje 301 | 25% (most categories) | In force since 2018; unaffected by the February court ruling | Electronics, furniture, machinery, textiles, and most manufactured goods |
| Section 122 baseline surcharge | 10% | Introduced in late February 2026 after the IEEPA tariff was struck down | Nearly all Chinese-origin goods |
| IEEPA fentanyl / reciprocal levy | 20% | Struck down by the Supreme Court on February 20, 2026; collection stopped February 24 | No longer collected; some importers are pursuing refunds |
| De minimis flat duty (small parcels) | $75, rising later to $150 | Replaces the old $800 duty-free allowance for China-origin parcels | Direct-to-consumer shipments under formal-entry thresholds |
So, when you combine the Section 301 duty with the Section 122 surcharge, most small businesses importing general merchandise from China are now facing an effective duty rate in the mid-thirties, although some specific product categories have additional layers that bring the total well above that. Businesses that paid the IEEPA fee earlier in the year which has now been voided may also be entitled to a refund therefore it’s worth checking with a customs broker rather than assume the money is just gone.
One further wrinkle worth highlighting. New Section 301 investigations against China were begun this year in March and any conclusions from those might impose still another layer of duty on top of the current pile later in 2026. Uncertainty also clouds the Section 122 baseline itself, with several trade lawyers tracking the issue expecting a Section 301-based structure to replace it around the middle of the year, making the 10 percent figure quoted today a snapshot, rather than a fixed number. For a small business trying to price things six months out, this kind of fluctuating baseline is perhaps a bigger operational issue than the tariff rate itself, because it makes forward planning genuinely tough.
What This Looks Like in Real Dollars
Numbers on a policy page seldom reveal the whole story unless they are applied to a real product. Picture a small firm importing a cargo of home goods valued at $10,000. With the present stack, almost $2,500 is from the Section 301 duty and another $1,000 is from the Section 122 surcharge, before freight, insurance and the newly necessary broker fee for official entry are ever added. What was a few hundred dollars in incidental fees to clear a shipment can now be several thousand dollars in tariffs alone.
It’s not a small change for enterprises who have established their pricing structures around the old de minimis and tariff environment. It’s a change to the structure of the cost of goods sold, and it’s why so many small sellers have spent the last several months recalibrating supplier pricing, retail pricing, or in some cases, halting categories that no longer pencil out.
It’s also helpful to see how this plays out over a few different product kinds, as the effective rate isn’t uniform by any means. A basic home products import with just the Section 301 and Section 122 layers is somewhere in the mid-thirties as indicated above. A shipment of electronics, which frequently has a higher base rate on a Section 301 list, can surge above 40 percent when everything is said and done. And some important categories, electric cars being the most severe example, can bear Section 301 duties alone at more than 100 percent before any other layer is even imposed. Very few small firms fall into that last category, but this highlights just how broad the range actually is, and why a generic answer to “what will my tariff be” is rarely effective without knowing the precise HTS code involved.
Formal Entry Is Now the Rule, Not the Exception
Prior to these revisions, most small parcel shipments from China entered the US via an informal, mainly automated clearing process because they fell below the de minimis criterion. That’s no longer the case. By 2026, nearly all shipments from China will have to have a formal or informal customs entry, which in practice means employing a broker and another $125 to $300 in fees every cargo, on top of the tariffs owing.
This has altered the incentives to consolidate orders. Splitting a large order into multiple little packages was a technique to fly under the duty-free radar. Now it basically only adds to the number of times you pay a broker charge. More and more businesses who formerly dispatched a dozen tiny express packages a month are merging those orders into fewer, larger shipments, both to lower the per-unit cost of customs processing and to decrease the paperwork burden on the business owner.
There’s also a data dimension to this move that catches many small importers by surprise. Formal entry demands more extensive product information, including accurate HTS classification, verification of place of origin, and often a more precise valuation than firms were used to supplying previously. If you get this incorrect, it’s not only a risk of a delay, misclassification can lead to penalties significantly more expensive than the duty itself.
One consequence, not frequently discussed, is how it affects choices of insurance. Several small firms have started purchasing frachtfersekering for the first time, while before the value of any one item was frequently too tiny to worry with. Now, with greater dollar value invested in one official shipment as opposed to several small parcels, it’s worth it. As a rough rule of thumb, companies that have shipments in the $25,000 to $100,000 range are normally recommended to have full coverage, while anything above that requires full coverage and a contingency allowance. Premiums typically run between 0.1 and 0.7 percent of the value of the cargo. It’s a little add-on cost but one that has become much more meaningful now that a single formal entry might represent a far bigger part of a small business’ entire inventory investment than it used to.
Ocean, Air, or Express: The Math Has Shifted Underneath You
The China-to-US lane has always been served by three shipping systems, each still suited for a particular volume and urgency profile, but the relative economics between them have changed considerably this year.
| Metoade | Typyske Transit Tiid | Bêste geskikt foar | 2026 Cost Trend |
| Ocean FCL | 28–38 dagen fan haven nei haven | Larger, steady-volume orders where per-unit cost matters most | Stable to slightly higher |
| Oseaan LCL | 30–42 days including consolidation | Smaller businesses not yet ready to fill a container | Rising, due to break-bulk handling fees |
| Air fracht | 6–10 dagen | Mid-size restocks and time-sensitive seasonal goods | Matige ferheging |
| express koerier | 3–5 dagen fan doar ta doar | Samples, urgent replenishment, low-volume test orders | Sharp increase since formal entry became mandatory |
For companies with regular, larger-volume demands, full-container-load ocean freight remains the most cost-effective per-unit choice. Add in the additional costs that mandatory customs entry adds to express and small-parcel shipments, and the benefit of full-container-load ocean freight is even greater. Less-than-container-load shipping still works well for smaller companies, but US ports’ break-bulk handling fees have gotten so high that many forwarders now say around 15 cubic metres is the point where outright booking a partially filled container is cheaper and faster than paying LCL handling charges.
In the centre is loft fracht, which is good for a seasonal push to top up inventory without the express courier costs, and express courier service, which used to be the standard for speedy, duty-free small parcels, has lost most of its cost advantage since every box now needs official clearance. It’s still the fastest alternative and still the best choice for urgent replacement parts or product samples, but it’s no longer the default low cost option it once was for routine restocking.
The message for business owners considering these options is that consolidation and planning forward are more important today than ever. A shipment two months in advance shipped by ocean freight can have a far cheaper landing cost than the identical products hurried in by air or courier at the last minute, not to mention the duty savings from fewer distinct customs entries.
It is also worth noting that some forwarders have begun to introduce flat all-inclusive pricing per kilogram or cubic metre that bundles freight and anticipated tariff exposure into one quoted number. And for a small business owner who would prefer know their landing cost upfront rather than navigate five different layers of tariff themselves, this kind of pricing approach has real appeal, even if it often comes with a slight premium over booking freight and customs individually. It shifts the volatility of tariff fluctuations from the importer to the forwarder, which can be worth the trade-off for a business operating on narrow margins.
New Bottlenecks at the Ports
The move away from de minimis parcels has not only affected costs, it has shifted where the friction happens in the supply chain. Now every shipment requires formal customs entry and tariff assessment. Entry hubs like Los Angeles and JFK have seen a significant increase in the number of shipments that need individual review, and Customs and Border Protection has stepped up inspection activity at a number of major gateways.
For small enterprises, that means less predictable transit times, even if the shipping method itself hasn’t changed. And a cargo that used to pass in a day or two under the old express approach can suddenly be stuck in queue for additional documentation review, particularly if the HTS classification or claimed value seems discordant with similar shipments. Sellers used to leaner reorder cycles have become used to, but don’t embrace, building in a one-to-two-week buffer into inventory planning.
How Small Businesses Are Actually Adapting
Small importers have concentrated on a few realistic methods during the past several months, rather than any single silver bullet, in the face of a greater duty burden and a slower, more document-intensive clearance process.
The most typical solution has been to consolidate, taking what used to be multiple small express shipments and consolidating them into fewer, larger ocean or air shipments, to spread the fixed cost of customs entry over more units and limit the number of times duties and broker fees were triggered. Another typical strategy has been to shift some inventory into warehouses in the US, so that after products have cleared customs in bulk, domestic fulfilment can take place without having to make repeated cross-border entry for each client purchase. A smaller but growing number of companies are starting to diversify some of their procurement to other manufacturing regions—not necessarily to get out of Chinese suppliers, but to lessen the percentage of their catalogue that relies on one high-tariff corridor.
Without a logistics partner who truly understands the current rules, not the rules of a year ago,none of these techniques function successfully. This is when dealing with an experienced China to US freight forwarder becomes less of a convenience and more of a requirement. Shenzhen-based Topway Shipping, which has served this corridor since 2010, has built its business around this type of end-to-end support, offering first-leg transportation out of China, overseas opslach, customs clearance, and last-mile delivery into the US, as well as flexible full-container and less-than-container ocean freight options for companies whose order volumes do not yet warrant a full container on every shipment.
Choosing a Logistics Partner in the Current Environment
Given the extent of the additional cost and delay in 2026 that is due to customs clearance rather than the physical movement of goods, the value a forwarder brings has shifted correspondingly. Now a partner who can classify products correctly, provide entire formal entry documentation the first time, and advise whether ocean, air, or express makes sense for a given order is worth a lot more than one who merely schedules cargo space.
The founding team of Topway Shipping has more than fifteen years of experience in international logistics and customs clearance, with a particular focus on the China-US lane, which is more important this year than in most years before, because the rules behind it have moved so often. For a small business owner who wants to keep landed costs predictable while the tariff structure is still evolving, it is a significant advantage to have a forwarder that monitors these changes as part of its day-to-day operations, instead of something that needs to be researched from scratch each time a shipment is booked.
Konklúzje
This year’s improvements to China-to-US shipping are not cosmetic. The elimination of de minimis, the multi-tiered tariff stack that is currently over 35 percent for several product categories, and the move to mandatory formal entry on every shipment have all altered the cost and time it takes to move products across the Pacific. For small business owners, the best way to handle this transition is to treat logistics as a strategic function, not an afterthought: consolidating shipments, planning further ahead, and working with forwarders who understand the current rules well enough to keep both cost and delivery timelines predictable.
The commercial relationship between the two countries remains fluid, with new investigations and judicial challenges already lined up for later in 2026. remaining informed, and remaining close to a logistics partner who is doing the same, will probably mean as much this year as any single sourcing decision.
FAQs
Q: Do all shipments from China really need formal customs entry now?
A: Yes. From 2026 onwards, any cargo from China, no matter what the claimed value, will need to have a customs entry, official or informal. The old duty free provision for tiny parcels is no longer in effect.
Q: What is the current effective tariff rate on Chinese imports?
A: Most categories of general items have an effective rate of about 35 percent when you add the Section 301 duty to the Section 122 baseline surcharge, but there are other categories that have other layers that take it higher.
Q: Can I get a refund on the tariffs I already paid under the old rule?
A: Duties paid under the IEEPA fentanyl and reciprocal tariff, knocked down by the Supreme Court in February 2026, may be refunded. A customs broker can verify whether your specific entries are eligible.
Q: Is ocean freight still worth it for a small business?
A: For regular, higher-volume shipments, ocean transport, especially full-container-load, is still the most economical and its cost advantage over rapid courier has increased now that all shipments are subject to formal clearance expenses.
Q: How can a freight forwarder actually help with these changes?
A: An expert forwarder ensures correct product classification, comprehensive formal entry documents and route choice amongst ocean, air and express, reducing both the duty exposure and the danger of costly delays at the border.
