Biden Pressed to Fix Trade Loophole Favoring Chinese Retailers

More than 100 Democratic lawmakers urged President Joe Biden to use his executive authorities to narrow a trade loophole that can allow cheap goods from clothing to e-bike batteries to enter the US without duties.

Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) and Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) led 126 Democratic members of Congress in a letter to Biden targeting the “de minimis” trade law loophole that lets shipments worth less than $800 enter the US without customs declarations or duties. More than 4 million packages enter the country every day under the de minimis exemption, the letter said.

Lawmakers warned that products illegally made ...