Nick Fernandez / Android Authority
Update (14:47 EN February 7, 2025): After sending importers to panic in recent days, the Trump administration has once again relied on an aggressive political change, today announced that removing the minimis exemption for the import of lower value of goods from China is indefinitely. The The White House Explains that the United States will resume to accept this import without tariff rates before “the presidential secretary’s warning that the president that sufficient systems are in place to complete fully and appropriate to process and collect customs revenue.”
Initially, it put the carriage in front of the horse and announced this big change without being ready to actually collect tariff rates on all these things. When people and procedures to handle them are in place, the minimis exemption should be removed again. But until that day comes, go nuts at TEMU.
Update (08:49 EN February 5, 2025): Official documentation From the US Customs and Border Patrol states that all shipments from China will now be subject to formal treatment fees, regardless of their value. The USPS has resumed by accepting packages from China and Hong Kong, but will start collecting fees and tariffs.
Original article (08:15 EN February 5, 2025): The Gaming handheld The market has exploded in recent years but now everything has stopped with a short post on USPS site“Effective February 4, the postal service will temporarily suspend international package acceptance of incoming packages from China and Hong Kong’s posts for the time being.”
While the text says it only affects the China Post and Hong Kong Post, reality has been different. As reported by CabledTransport companies have already turned away at the border if they contain packages from China.
Almost every game handheld on the market is made in China and is usually sent from there. This is the case for smaller companies that sell on aliexpress and fan favorites such as retroid, which sells on their own website.
Handheld can be subject to 30% taxes, plus $ 3-22 in flat customs fee.
It is worth pointing out that most of these shipments do not go through USPS, but the announcement will probably have a cool effect on the rest of the industry. After all, everything must pass through American customs, which have already increased the inspection and enforcement.
This is done because of a fresh executive order from President Trump, who not only adds a 10% tariff to goods from China, but also eliminates the minimis Customs expression of goods under $ 800. In the past, this meant that packages could come to the United States without customs inspections or fees, which led to flowering platforms such as AliExpress and Temu. An estimity 1.36 billion packages Come into the United States this way in 2024.
The Biden administration also suggested the idea of ​​removing the minimis exemption, but never ended any plans. It is not yet clear what the results of this change will be, but buyers can look at not only taxes and customs costs, but also expensive customs fees.
according to So udonA popular handheld reviewer and creator, flat customs fee can range from $ 3-22, plus 35% of the declared value in taxes. For the cheap handholds that have flooded the market in recent years, there may be games over.
