Senators Urge Treasury, Homeland Security to End Trade Loophole, Stop Fentanyl Smuggling

Four Democratic senators are calling on the Biden administration to eliminate a trade exemption that allows packages valued at less than $800 to ship to the United States with relatively little customs scrutiny, citing concerns that drug traffickers are exploiting this “loophole.”
In a letter dated Oct. 28, the senators told Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas that they should use their statutory authority to eliminate the trade provision known as the de minimis exemption for e-commerce shipments.
“We are particularly concerned by reports that drug traffickers are abusing the de minimus exemption to smuggle illicit fentanyl and its precursor chemicals into the United States, turning an exemption into a loophole,” the lawmakers wrote….