Airfreight rates could plummet – along with demand – following the US suspension of the exemption for de minimis goods. 

Over the weekend, the Trump administration, in addition to adding tariffs to goods from Canada, Mexico and China, suspended access to Section 321 customs de minimis entry process for shipments under $800 from those countries – often ecommerce packages. 

According to US Customs & Border Protection, it processed some 4m de minimis shipments a day in 2024, up from 2.8m a year before. The majority of the more than a billion de minimis shipments CBP processed arrived by air – 88% via international mail, express courier services such as UPS, DHL, and FedEx, or as cargo on commercial airline flights.

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