On January 21, 2025, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) published a notice of proposed rulemaking that would make goods subject to tariffs under Sections 232, 201, and 301 ineligible for the de minimis duty exemption under the Section 321 Program, which allows imported shipments not exceeding $800 to enter the United States duty-free.  To help CBP identify and ensure that such goods would not claim 321 de minimis exemption, the proposed rule would require goods entered under this program to enter with a 10-digit HTSUS classification.

This January 21 proposed rule follows an earlier notice of proposed rulemaking by CBP, also on low-value shipments, published on January 14, 2025. The January 14 proposed rule aims to establish a new “enhanced entry process” for low-value shipments subject to partner government agency regulations. The enhanced entry process would require the submission of advance electronic data about the contents (including 10-digit HTSUS classification), origin, and destination of the shipments. CBP also proposed modifications to the existing entry process, renamed as the “basic entry process.”

Currently, CBP processes approximately 4 million de minimis shipments per day. The proposed rules address administrative pressures faced by CBP to effectively enforce trade laws, particularly with identifying high-risk shipments of illegal drugs and counterfeit goods. The January 21 proposed rule also addresses growing concerns over the use of the de minimis exemption to circumvent certain trade remedies and national security actions, such as tariff actions under Sections 232, 201, and 301.

There is an opportunity for public comment for both proposed rules, but the comment windows are closing soon. CBP will accept public comments in connection with the January 14 proposed rule (developing and modifying processes for entering de minimis shipments) by March 17, 2025, and in connection with the January 21 proposed rule (excluding from the de minimis exemption any goods subject to trade or national security actions under Section 232, 201 or 301 tariff regimes) by March 24, 2025.

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Photo of John Brew John Brew

John Brew is the co-chair of Crowell & Moring’s International Trade Group and a partner in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office. He has extensive experience in import and export trade regulation, and he regularly advises corporations, trade associations, foreign governments, and non-governmental organizations…

John Brew is the co-chair of Crowell & Moring’s International Trade Group and a partner in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office. He has extensive experience in import and export trade regulation, and he regularly advises corporations, trade associations, foreign governments, and non-governmental organizations on matters involving customs administration, enforcement, compliance, litigation, legislation and policy.

John represents clients in proceedings at the administrative and judicial levels, as well as before Congress and the international bureaucracies that handle customs and trade matters. He advises clients on all substantive import regulatory issues handled by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, such as classification, valuation, origin, marking, tariff preference programs, other agency regulations, admissibility, import restrictions, quotas, drawback, audits, prior disclosures, penalties, investigations, Importer Self Assessment and Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism programs, importations under bond, the Jones Act, vessel repairs, and foreign trade zone matters.

Photo of Maria Vanikiotis Maria Vanikiotis

Maria Vanikiotis is a counsel in the International Trade Group of Crowell & Moring and resident in the firm’s New York office.

Maria has experience in a variety of matters related to the movement of goods across international borders, including problem-solving for importers

Maria Vanikiotis is a counsel in the International Trade Group of Crowell & Moring and resident in the firm’s New York office.

Maria has experience in a variety of matters related to the movement of goods across international borders, including problem-solving for importers facing Section 232 and Section 301 tariffs, classification of merchandise under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, first sale appraisement programs, free trade agreement origin verifications, country of origin analyses, and other regulatory issues.

Before joining Crowell & Moring, Maria worked for a boutique law firm in New York focusing on customs law and, while in law school, Maria was employed as a summer associate in the Brussels office of a large international law firm on matters related to antitrust and competition law within the European Union. As a law student, Maria published a note comparing collective action approaches to antitrust cases in the U.S., U.K., and E.U., for which she won an award for outstanding legal writing. In addition, Maria was an active and accomplished member of both the Fordham International Law Journal and the Dispute Resolution Society.

Photo of Ivy Xun Ivy Xun

Ivy Xun is an international trade analyst in Crowell & Moring’s Washington, D.C. office. She provides practice support to the International Trade Group on import regulatory matters pending before the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. She…

Ivy Xun is an international trade analyst in Crowell & Moring’s Washington, D.C. office. She provides practice support to the International Trade Group on import regulatory matters pending before the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. She works closely with attorneys developing courses of action for clients impacted by investigations under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 and Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. Ivy also supports unfair trade investigations, including antidumping and countervailing duty investigations, sunset reviews, and changed circumstance reviews before the Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission.