A massive tariff on millions of Americans' purchases just went into effect -- cue the chaos

[marmar]

New York
CNN

—

Many Americans might not have felt major effects from President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs – until now.

That’s because a major shipping loophole expired at one minute past midnight on Friday. The de minimis exemption, as it’s known, allowed shipments of goods worth $800 or less to come into the US duty free, often more or less skipping time-consuming inspections and paperwork.

The loophole helped reshape the way countless Americans shop, allowing ultra-low-cost Chinese e-commerce sites like Shein, Temu and AliExpress to pour everything from yarn to patio furniture, clothes to photography equipment and more into US homes.

Its impending end has rung alarm bells across social media, with a baseline tariff as high as 145% depending on the carrier set to take effect on Chinese imports, potentially more than doubling the cost for all those cheap products deal-hungry Americans scooped up. .........................(more)

https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/02/economy/de-minimis-packages-tariff

[justaprogressive]

1. K'n'R

[UpInArms]

2. An example

I was trying to repair an older laptop (a nice sturdy asus) and need a graphics card … the only one I found that was a one to one replacement was in China … it cost, to my door, $35 … today, that would translate to approximately $87 …

Smh

[CountAllVotes]

3. Vitacost

I placed an order with them yesterday. Many of their prices were up 10% or more on some items.

Food and from where?

[PortTack]

4. Saw a post about a guy doing a DYI and seriously underestimated his paint needs.

Using a premium Sherwin Williams paint was $78 a gallon, now $153

[SheltieLover]

5. For a fucking gallon of paint?

I'd leave it unpainted personally. Just on principle.

[Historic NY]

9. Historic restoration colors special blends

I managed a Restoration project 83 gallons main body color and then adding 25 for trim and shutters

Yeah that was the problem they left it unpainted for decades.

[SheltieLover]

11. Ooooh

Thx for explaining.

Time for some fabric wall hangings & art work.

[70sEraVet]

6. That's bad enough for a DIY project, but what about a contractor....

Who took a bid on a job and now is expected to complete it within a certain percentage of his/her estimate? This was the problem during Covid, when the price of lumber tripled.

[TalenaGor]

8. this happened to us on that 'liberation day'

quoted some marine batteries on friday - then on monday when we went to buy them, they went up by about 80 bucks each x8=

[Historic NY]

10. Liberating the cash from your wallet....

[Ms. Toad]

15. Yup.

And since my contractor has drug my kitchen project out for 3 years. He's getting hit with both COVID (on the cabinets) and tariffs (on whatever we need for backsplash).

[hueymahl]

19. Hopefully the contractor has contractual language protecting it from these things

Otherwise, there is going to be a lot of litigation and pain.

[Firestorm49]

7. Oh no it didn't! The countries shipping goods to us will pay for it 🤪. Feeble try, donnie boy.

[IronLionZion]

12. Other countries will pay the tariffs the same way Mexico will pay for the wall

[Mr.Bee]

13. It was never about punishing countries

with everything trump, you have to read between the lines...
It was about raising prices for manufacturers and suppliers.
Because you know what they say about prices;
they ratchet up but they never come down.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

14. On eBay, it appears some Chinese vendors are just slamming the door shut.

As an electronics hobbyist and retiree, I monitor numerous electronic parts for future hobby projects on an eBay watch list and typically would buy some things around once a month.

Now, for example, a small aluminum project case went from $15 and free shipping to $20 plus $200 shipping! It's the same on many other parts, although oddly. some still show free shipping. I suspect these small parts shops in China are betting on enough non-US business to stay afloat until this blows over.

Damn good thing I have tons of parts on hand and a backlog of Mr. Fix-it projects to keep me busy 'till TFG flips or is gone.

[Linda ladeewolf]

23. I like different musical instruments.

I only watch parts I need for my laptop on eBay. I need a new lcd screen, guess I better buy it while I can.

I love kalimbas, I’ve bought two, Seeds 41 key kalimbas when I could get them $89 and $69 respectively, the same ones out of China now are a couple of hundred dollars. I won’t be buying more.

And small looms and other items, I will have to make myself. Yarn and other threads are from Turkey and they will have gone up too. These are luxuries though.

Wait until it hits personal goods, soap, shampoo, cosmetics, the ingredients of which come from other countries. Then there are phones and electronics. This is going to hurt. Clothing will go up too. Food, I don’t want to think about.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

31. There must be millions of kalimbas in-stock in the USA.

Most of the Chinese-made ones I'm seeing on eBay are still cheap and with free shipping from within the USA. The LingTing model I bought my granddaughter in '22 is still close to the same price on Amazon. However, that will change with time as stocks are depleted.

Millions of Americans started in-home eBay and Amazon stores in the last decade or so, by sourcing cheap Chinese goods. They're going to be hurting with many closing shop in coming months. In my case, I occasionally was buying electronic hobby parts and stuff for home audio and recording systems.

I think the sectors we need to worry most about would be automotive, computing and our food supply chain.

Best of luck with your hobbies and may the orange monkey's tariffs have minimal impact on you!

[Linda ladeewolf]

32. There are lots of cheap kalimbas on eBay, but most of them really sound awful.

Ling Ting kalimbas are great. The Seeds kalimbas are very high quality too, they are chromatic and the 41key version can play almost anything. It’s sounds like a quality instrument, the keys are the best I seen. I have two cheap ones I don’t like to play, a 21 key Zsdm that is okay, good keys, but the wood is not as good as it should be, a hand made pentatonic made here in America, it’s great, but not for regular music, the two Seeds are the best, I’ve found, if I had the money for it, I might get a poopoopidoo but they are much more and made in France. So I may have to pay duties and tariffs. One of mine came from Amazon the other from an open box on eBay. They were very reasonable, but I closed my Amazon account, so that is no longer an option.

I know many eBay sellers also sell on Amazon as well, using prime for delivery. They are going to be in big trouble, trump always goes after the smaller businesses. Same with farmers. The smaller farmers are in trouble but the big corporate farms will get billions from him.

For computers and cars, I think salvaging parts is going to become awfully popular. On computers, I usually buy two of everything, using one until it dies, then using the second until it needs parts, from the first if possible.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

34. I may try one of those for myself.

One of my life-long bucket list items was to learn to play guitar and I even own a good one. However, a career of high-stress traveling, helping two kids and my wife and caring for a home led to my retiring with arthritic hands and no guitar lessons. I also have a nice electronic piano I bought for my kids that needs to be dusted off and used.

So, perhaps a kalimba might make a good retirement companion...... Next time I'm visiting my daughter's home I'll get the granddaughter's kalimba and try it out as a test.

The Seeds are a bit rich for my budget, but another Ling Ting would be OK.

[Linda ladeewolf]

37. Ling tings are very good.

I opted for seeds because it has the 17 key arrangement, 2 rows of 17 and a row of 7 lower keys on the bottom. It’s as close to a 17 key kalimba as I could get and be chromatic. I have memory issues and arthritis too and I can still play it. I also have almost no fingernails, thanks to Covid. I can still play with my short ones. You can also get chromatic Ling tings. If you opt for one try puresmusic.com they have good prices and variety.

[Beachnutt]

16. Found on reddit

[hueymahl]

18. People will stop buying Chinese crap mostly

Which has its positives. But yeah, its going to hurt for a while.

[Layzeebeaver]

20. right wing talking point

it will hurt now, but it will be so much better in the future.

yea, right...

[hueymahl]

24. Oh Please

Not acknowledging the reality that the crap from china is largely created in inhumane working conditions, is bad for the environment and contributes to global warming just because the evil idiot started a tarriff is not very logical and does not make it a right-wing talking point. The policy is hugely flawed in so many ways. But that does not mean that decreasing consumption of products from china is a bad thing.

[Layzeebeaver]

25. The global economy is already here

You can’t put the Chinese cat back in the bag.

[RandomNumbers]

30. The only meaningful ways to decrease consumption

significantly, are

1) significant population decrease
2) drastic changes to everyday life for the majority of people

Krasnov is also working on #1 but in horrific ways (brutal roundups and expulsions of people; ending healthcare and support programs so people just die) - except he claims to want to also INCREASE babies born - which we know is only for white people. (but if he gets his way there is not a net decrease in population, so rule that one out). Also bears mentioning that #1 creates the demographic shift that people are already hair-on-fire about - but that is already on the doorstep with AI anyway (could give an example from my job this week, grrr ... stupidity is not limited to the overtly political realm). ALSO bears mentioning that OH BY THE WAY, if we want to "save the planet" (meaning save the ecosystem), human population reduction is not optional - and in fact, WILL happen eventually - if not gently by human direction, then - eventually, could be a while yet - brutally by Nature's hand.

#2 ain't happening in the U.S. any time soon in any gentle way - and even with tariffs, the rich and the addicted will still procure their toys and substances, and continue their consumption level. If Trump achieves his stated goal of driving production to the US - which will take decades, if at all possible* - then nothing will change except more misery for those at the (expanded) lower end of the wealth scale. There is an alternative path, the road not taken - that could achieve a consumption decrease humanely, but it would require a massive culture shift, and unfortunately our culture is being steered by people who just don't care about the rest of us or the planetary ecosystem.

* maybe not possible due to the depletion of resources. Hence Krasnov's ideas of taking over or controlling some other countries' mineral wealth. But at some point folks, IT WILL ALL BE USED UP. (yes I know, re-use and recycling. But we are not yet in a circular economy for 10 billion people and I don't know if that's even possible, but I don't think it's close.)

Yes, I am just a ray of sunshine this morning, I know.

[Linda ladeewolf]

33. You did shed some light on the problem! Hehe! 😈 you little ray of sunshine.

[louis-t]

28. I had a guy tell me it will take a year to "get back to normal".

I said "Then what is the point?" He said "Jobs". i said "WE HAVE 4% UNEMPLOYMENT!"

[Woodwizard]

21. Except it is impossible not to.

My materials are local but almost all power tools are made outside the US same for hand tools. When stuff wears out it will drive my cost up. Mainly Taiwan and China are the suppliers.

They don't flip a switch and bring it back.

[uponit7771]

22. How long is "a while" 3 - 7 yrs or 3 - 7 months? tia

[hueymahl]

17. There are pros and cons

Cons - increases prices, which primarily hurt lower incomes.

Pros - Reduces consumption of cheap chinese crap that is made under very questionable conditions and is terrible for the environment and contributes to global warming.

Unfortunately the orange idiot is using a axe when a scalpel would have been better.

[Norrrm]

26. A massive tax hike... thanks to Trump.

Who gets the money from tariffs? Tax hike

A tariff is a tax hike, usually paid by the customer.
Sometimes by the selling country but not often.
It is not called a tax, but my wallet does not know the difference.

https://tinyurl.com/25cw2c5b

A quick primer on tariffs: They’re a tax on imported goods — clothes, shoes, toys, car parts, appliances, you name it. But the extra money does not come from the foreign companies that produce those goods. The American company doing the importing pays the money to the US Treasury.

(That means the gov't.--- the administration.)
They don't seem to mention that they are collecting more taxes.

[Lovie777]

27. LA ports pretty much empty....

California is bracing for the out come.

Side note, I truly believe shithole is messing with the stock market with false employment numbers as well as the unemployment status.

[Meowmee]

29. So far no price increases in my cart in amazon except cat food and cat litter

But they went up before this a while back. Only the tofu cat litter is from China. One cat food may have gone up again that is from Canada or it may be a sale that was off now. I should have got another bag of that one.

[Delphinus]

35. I've had

a tab open looking at a certain dress - it went up a little over $20.

[Meowmee]

36. Interesting

Nothing like that that I saved has gone up. And that one cat food is actually made in the USA it says although I think it used to be made in Canada.