Amendment to Duties To Address the Situation at Our Southern Border
Signed: March 2, 2025
Published: March 6, 2025
Document Number: 2025-03729
📋Summary
This executive order changes an earlier order that imposed new duties (tariffs) tied to the situation at the U.S. southern border. It affects importers, online sellers, shipping carriers, and consumers who rely on “de minimis” shipments—low-value packages that can normally enter duty-free. The order keeps duty-free de minimis treatment available for covered goods for now, but says it will end once the Secretary of Commerce tells the President that systems are ready to quickly process those shipments and collect the required tariff revenue. It also states that agencies must carry this out within existing legal authority and available funding, and it does not create new enforceable rights for private parties.
💼Business Impact
This amendment mainly affects **e‑commerce sellers, marketplaces, customs brokers/3PLs, and import‑reliant retailers/manufacturers** that ship **low-value (“de minimis,” 19 U.S.C. 1321) packages**—especially high‑volume cross‑border parcel flows tied to “covered articles” under EO 14194. For now, it **keeps de minimis duty‑free treatment available**, but it creates a clear trigger: once the **Secretary of Commerce notifies the President that systems can process/collect tariffs at scale**, those same items could **lose de minimis duty‑free status**, raising landed costs and potentially slowing fulfillment due to more formal processing. Compliance-wise, businesses should prepare for **more frequent tariff assessment on small parcels**, meaning stronger **HS classification, country-of-origin substantiation, valuation controls, and data quality** (product master data, commercial invoices, and broker/forwarder integrations) to avoid delays, penalties, or unexpected duty bills. There’s also an opportunity for firms with robust compliance and logistics to **differentiate on reliability** (fewer holds/returns) and to renegotiate terms with suppliers and carriers based on anticipated duty collection. Immediate
Full Text
Executive Order 14227 of March 2, 2025
Amendment to Duties To Address the Situation at Our Southern Border
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.), the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended (19 U.S.C. 2483), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, I hereby determine and order:
Section 1 . Amendment.Executive Order 14194 of February 1, 2025 (Imposing Duties to Address the Situation at Our Southern Border), as amended by Executive Order 14198 of February 3, 2025 (Progress on the Situation at Our Southern Border), is further amended by revising section 2(g) to read as follows:
”(g) Duty-free de minimis treatment under 19 U.S.C. 1321 is available for otherwise eligible covered articles described in subsection (a) of this section. Such duty-free de minimis treatment shall cease to be available for such otherwise eligible covered articles upon notification by the Secretary of Commerce to the President that adequate systems are in place to fully and expeditiously process and collect tariff revenue applicable pursuant to subsection (a) of this section for covered articles otherwise eligible for de minimis treatment.”
Sec. 2 . General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department, agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
( printed page 11372)(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
THE WHITE HOUSE,
March 2, 2025.