US De Minimis Exemption Suspended 2026: What Every Importer and E-Commerce Seller Must Do Now
The US de minimis exemption has been suspended. Since August 29, 2025, every commercial shipment entering the United States, regardless of value, regardless of country of origin, and regardless of shipping method, is subject to formal customs entry, 10-digit HTS classification, and full duty payment. The $800 threshold that allowed 1.36 billion packages to enter […]
The Silent Middle: What Actually Happens to Your Hardware Between the Purchase Order and the Rack
A server refresh signed off in March, set for late April, is still half-installed in July. No port strike, no customs seizure, no single failure to blame. The delay hid where hardware projects almost always lose time: the operational stages between the factory and the rack, where the shipment changes hands and no one owns […]
Wrong HS Code on the Invoice: What to Do, Step by Step
You are looking at a commercial invoice and the HS code on it does not match the goods. Maybe it covers similar hardware but not this specific product. Maybe it is the code the supplier always uses regardless of what they ship. Either way, you are about to make a legally binding declaration to customs […]
HS Codes for Electronics and Tech Equipment: The 2026 Field Guide
The same GPU can cost three different amounts to import, and nothing about the chip changes. Shipped as a bare component, it enters under one code, duty-free in most major markets. Mounted on a module and presented as a processing unit, it moves to a code that in the US can now carry a 25 […]
The 2026 Importer of Record Landscape: Why the Duty-Free Era Ended, and What It Costs to Get Compliance Wrong
For most of the last decade, the dominant force in cross-border trade was frictionlessness. Thresholds rose, parcels flowed, and the importer of record was a box on a customs form that, for low-value goods, barely mattered. That era is over. Across 2025 and 2026, the world’s largest economies dismantled the duty-free treatment of low-value imports, […]
Importer of Record for Data Centre Equipment: Clearing Transformers, Cooling, and Power Hardware Against a Build Deadline
A data centre does not go live when the servers arrive. It goes live when the power and cooling are in place, and that is the equipment most likely to be stuck at a border. The transformers, switchgear, uninterruptible power supplies, chillers, and liquid-cooling systems that a facility runs on are heavy, high in value, […]
The EU De Minimis Importer of Record Problem: Why Parcels Without a Declarant Will Be Returned From 1 July 2026
Update, 28 July 2026: The EU de minimis reform took effect on 1 July 2026 and France’s abolition of one-off fiscal representation under Regime 42 took effect on 1 January 2026, so both changes described here are now live rather than pending. This guide has been updated accordingly. The central point stands: since 1 July, […]
Section 122 Has Expired: What Importers Who Paid the Surcharge Should Do About Refunds
The Section 122 tariffs expired at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time on 24 July 2026, at the end of their 150-day statutory life, and Congress did not extend them. At the same moment, a new Section 301 action on forced labour took effect and replaced them for most origins, so the expiry did not bring the […]
Brazil Section 301 Tariff 2026: The 25% Duty Is Live, Where It Hits, and Where to Go Instead
The Brazil Section 301 tariff 2026 is live. Since 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time on 22 July 2026, a 25% additional ad valorem duty has applied to most products of Brazil under HTSUS heading 9903.05.01. This is no longer a proposal or a comment window: it is a duty CBP is collecting right now. So the […]
Customs Enforcement Executive Order 2026: New IOR Bond and Vetting Rules Every US Importer Must Act On
On June 3, 2026, President Trump signed an executive order titled “Strengthening Customs Enforcement” that rewrites the rules for every Importer of Record bringing goods into the United States. This is not a tariff. It is a structural overhaul of who is allowed to act as an IOR, what financial backing they must hold, how […]