Trump’s New Tax Is in the Mail

Proponents of tax increases on others seldom like to pay them personally. Tariffs are no different. The White House claims its tariff revenue is coming from foreign countries, but Americans will soon pay new levies on small packages from abroad because of an executive order President Trump signed last week.

On Aug. 29, the U.S. will end its de minimis exemption, which grants Americans a tax break for small mail-order purchases from abroad. For the first time since 1938, international packages will arrive with a tariff bill to be paid by the recipient. That means your next eBay purchase from Europe will incur a 15% tax. Your online coffee order from Brazil will face a 50% markup. And everyday purchases from Amazon Haul, or its Chinese competitor Temu, will come with a surcharge matching the tariff on its origin country. If a postal carrier isn’t equipped to calculate the fee according to Mr. Trump’s ever-changing tariff schedule, the new tax is a minimum $80 flat rate per package. In total, Mr. Trump’s order will put tariffs on the estimated 1.36 billion packages that Americans receive every year from online purchases that were previously tax-exempt.

Tax hikes are seldom rewarded at the ballot box. That’s why the White House is trying to justify its order by saying the de minimis exemption is abused to send fentanyl and other synthetic opioids undetected. The vast majority of fentanyl smuggled into the U.S. comes from one country: Mexico. But Mr. Trump is ending the de minimis exemption for packages from all countries. Although fentanyl is a deadly drug, there’s no evidence that taxing worldwide e-commerce will stop drugs from entering the U.S.

Mr. Trump’s new package tax is part of a global protectionist resurgence, and we have already seen the pitfalls of the strategy across the Atlantic. The European Union has been targeting Temu and Shein, another low-cost Chinese platform, under the guise of “consumer protection.” The EU alleges that these platforms distribute “illegal” goods. But, in many cases, “illegality” means little more than failing to meet the EU’s notoriously complex product-labeling regulations or falling short of its Byzantine labor and environmental rules.

After toying with an end to the de minimis exemption, the EU is now considering a €2-a-package handling fee. This is less dramatic than Mr. Trump’s measure, but it would apply on top of a stricter enforcement of the EU standards.

In the U.S. and Europe, misdiagnosed emergencies and so-called safety measures are being used to obscure unpopular tax and regulatory agendas. Mr. Trump’s e-commerce tax will fall on Americans despite his claims that tariffs only burden foreign countries. For the EU, the erosion of de minimis has become a back door to force global adherence to its own “environmental, social, and digital standards.”

If a politician’s true aim is to tax, regulate and restrict consumer choice, he should drop the charade that he’s doing it for our good.