Experts Predict Which Household Items Will Go Up In Price After Trump Kills Trading Loophole This Month.

As part of his escalating trade war, President Donald Trump is ending a shopping loophole that will make buying some of your everyday household goods more expensive very soon.

President Trump’s July executive order is ending the “de minimis” tariff exemption, which allowed U.S. shoppers to buy packages valued at $800 per day directly from foreign sellers free of tariffs and administrative fees, often skipping inspections and paperwork. After Aug. 29, that will end.

President Trump already ended “de minimis” tariff exemption for goods coming from China and Hong Kong, but his new executive order is ending this trading loophole for the rest of the world. Customs and Border Protection estimates that over 1.36 billion packages that were delivered in 2024 were “de minimis” shipments.

Now “all shipments, regardless of value or origin, will be subject to full customs clearance and applicable duties,” said Chris Tang, a University of California, Los Angeles professor who studies global supply chain management. All applicable duties broadly mean the tariffs from the item’s country of origin.

For example, the import duties from China are currently 30% due to the 90-day truce between the U.S. and China, meaning if you buy something valued at $200 from China, with a 30% tariff, that would end up being $260, Tang explained.

But no country is spared from these extra fees now.

This means that your France-made clothing and Korean cosmetics might start to experience the same price increases that you might already be seeing from Chinese e-commerce giants Shein, Temu and Alibaba, which relied on the “de minimis” exemption to keep prices low for U.S. shoppers.

Here are the unexpected and surprising items that will be impacted the most, as well as what you may want to stock up on before the month ends, according to shipping and customs experts.

About 97% of apparel sold in America is made overseas, according to estimates from the American Apparel & Footwear Association.

The biggest sticker shocks will be in apparel and footwear, which are products the U.S. already taxes the heaviest. ”‘De minimis’ used to hide that at checkout, but after Aug. 29, those duties show up on every parcel,” said Casey Armstrong, chief marketing officer of ShipBob, a global fulfillment and supply chain platform.

Shoes and clothing are “the clear no. 1 most exposed [category],” Armstrong said. “Textiles in general often carry the highest tariff rates and this was a category that was greatly leveraging… the ‘de minimis’ exemption.”

Armstrong said products related to travel, like backpacks, handbags, and cosmetic pouches, are also going to be “highly impacted” by the “de minimis” ending because many of these items get classified as textiles, which carry higher tariff rates.

Low-value but high-volume goods like home decorations and low-cost gadgets will be “hit rather hard” by the end of “de minimis,” Armstrong said, because these items are where even a small duty can cause a noticeable price increase.

“Even if those only go by a dollar or two on a percentage basis, it exceeds a lot of the other products,” Armstrong noted.

Your favorite Japanese lip gloss or Korean blush might contain plastic components sourced overseas, which are used to contain the makeup and come with small price margins. As a result, beauty cosmetics products and toiletries “will get hit pretty bad” when the duty-free loophole ends, Armstrong said.

More than e-commerce giants that can absorb costs more easily, you might notice significant upticks in prices from your local small businesses on Etsy and eBay, said Bernie Hart, vice president of customs at Flexport, a company that brokers customs clearance and logistics for importers and exporters.

A small business on Etsy and eBay is “operating on razor-thin margins” and “is not going to be able to absorb this cost, which means they’re likely going to have to pass it on to the end consumer,” Hart said.

Your dog and cat toys, grooming tools and pet supplements you buy from international sellers on Amazon — most of them are from China, Tang said. He recommended stocking up on pet toys, grooming kits and specialty treats.

“Given that most electronic goods are made in China or Vietnam, consumers will be paying a higher price” for tech products, Tang noted. He recommended stocking up on your chargers, cables and earbuds before “de minimis” ends.

Since many major businesses anticipated the end of “de minimis,” you may not notice significant price upticks or low inventory in certain items, as these brands have stockpiled inventory as best they could in the United States. But by fall, that stockpile might run out, Hart said.

“Christmas lights, costumes… any decor, even presents, in and of themselves, are going to probably end up being more expensive,” Hart said.

Hart said that you can typically tell where your Christmas products are produced by looking at the tag or description online.

“If you are considering products for Christmas holidays, and you know it is foreign sourced…you might want to buy that sooner than later,” he said.

As certain items become pricier over time, you might also start noticing longer delivery times, too. The “de minimis” trading loophole made it easier for packages to get to your door without needing to hop over hurdles of time-consuming fees or customs inspections.

“If the seller has already set up a distribution center in the United States… then they should be fine,” Hart noted. But if this seller relies on having goods cross an international border, “there’s more chances for it to be delayed by paying the duties, taxes and fees, if it gets held for an exam –– these are all things that they didn’t have to worry about previously.“

Overall, the “de minimis” exemption for duty-free shopping helped to train American consumers to expect their items to arrive at their doorstep as fast and cheaply as possible, no matter where their coats and computer chargers were coming from. But shoppers might have to train themselves to expect a different kind of experience now.

“Most people don’t care that that inner [bicycle] tube is going to be coming from Germany. They just want the price to be competitive,” Hart said. “Now, I think you’re going to see more of an indication of, ‘Oh, this is coming from this place. That’s why the price is significantly more now.’”