Obama signs Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act, raising de minimis threshold to $800

President Barack Obama signed the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2016 on February 24, 2016, raising the de minimis exemption threshold from $200 to $800 — the level below which importers can ship goods into the U.S. with minimal documentation and no customs bond. Congress designed the increase to reduce CBP workload on low-value shipments and encourage e-commerce growth. De minimis entries grew from 140 million in 2014 to 1.36 billion in 2024, becoming the dominant channel foreign sellers used to enter the U.S. market.