Death by Express Delivery: De Minimis Trade Scandal Grows

Rethinking Trade with Lori Wallach

Our latest episode of the Rethinking Trade podcast offers an urgent update about the de minimis loophole that we first discussed in 2022. It has gotten much worse. E-commerce sites like Amazon, Shein and Temu use this loophole to skirt U.S. Customs and safety inspections and dodge all taxes and trade-cheating enforcement sanctions. Uyghur forced-labor products slip in and fake and dangerous goods too. The loophole is also increasingly being used by criminals to deliver illegal drugs with tragic consequences wracking families nationwide. Our special guest this week is one of the nation’s leading experts on this dangerous scam. Kim Glas, a fighter for fair trade for decades from her roles in Congress, the Obama administration and a labor-environmental group is now president of the National Council of Textile Organization. She has all of the inside information and a strategy of how we can end the de minimis scam once and for all.