US Closes Small Package Tariff Exemption in New Risk to Trade

What was once too much of a nuisance for the US to regulate became too big of an economic force to ignore any longer.

A US trade provision dating to the 1930s, which eventually cleared the way for more than a billion small parcels each year, ended Friday. While winners and losers are emerging, the extra time, paperwork and money are gumming up the gears of global e-commerce and adding a fresh layer of confusion in President Donald Trump’s reordering of international trade.

The value of goods subject to the “de minimis” tariff exemption — from Latin meaning “too ...