Global Daily Tax News, US Int'l Trade Court Backs Trump's De Minimis Exemption Policy, (Aug 18, 2026)

The US Court of International Trade has ruled that US President Donald Trump's use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 to rescind the de minimis exemption for low-value goods was lawful.

The Court, which earlier ruled against Trump's wider use of the IEEPA to impose tariffs on America's foreign trade partners, noted that IEEPA's wording enables the President to "nullify [or] void . . . exercising any . . . privilege" and said the de minimis exemption, by its own terms, creates a "privilege".

As such, it ruled that the President's rescission of the de minimis exemption is not "an exercise of the power of the purse", as was the case in the landmark ruling on tariffs in Learning Resources, and is "not an exercise of the power to legislate" and therefore does not "run afoul of separation of powers principles."

The decision concerns Executive Orders issued by the President invoking IEEPA to impose tariffs on goods worth less than USD800 from Mexico, China, and Canada. Shortly thereafter, the President suspended his rescission of the de minimis exemption and later reinstated it for products from China.

On July 30, 2025, the President issued an executive order invoking IEEPA to eliminate the de minimis exemption worldwide, effective from August 29, 2025.

Congress agreed to the inclusion of provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act statutorily repealing the de minimis exemption effective July 1, 2027.