Business & Economics
EU Finance Ministers Vote to Scrap €150 Duty-Free Threshold on E-commerce Parcels
On 13 Nov 2025 EU finance ministers agreed to abolish, as early as 2026, the bloc’s €150 de-minimis customs exemption that let platforms like Shein and Temu ship goods into Europe duty-free.
Focusing Facts
- Decision adopted at ECOFIN council in Brussels on 13 Nov 2025; previous abolition date was mid-2028, now brought forward to Q1 2026 with a stop-gap “simplified customs fee.”
- 4.6 billion low-value parcels entered the EU in 2024; 91 % originated from China, according to Commission data.
- Several states already acting unilaterally: Romania imposed a 5 € fee in 2025; Italy drafting a similar tax by year-end.
Context
Europe has reached for tariffs before when imports threatened local industries—think the 1993 ‘Bra War’ quotas on Chinese textiles or the 2013 anti-dumping duties on Chinese solar panels. Like those episodes, today’s vote folds trade policy into broader anxieties about industrial decline, data security, and ‘strategic autonomy’—buzzwords that have gained force since COVID-19 exposed supply-chain fragility. The measure sits at the intersection of two megatrends: (1) the explosion of cross-border click-to-door retail (Chinese fast-fashion apps grew from near-zero to billions of parcels in under five years) and (2) a decades-long drift away from hyper-globalisation toward managed trade, visible in the U.S.-China tariff wars (2018-). Over a 100-year horizon this is minor economically—€2 fees won’t reverse e-commerce—but politically it signals that the EU is willing to rewrite rules quickly when digital platforms exploit loopholes. Whether this accelerates a tit-for-tat tariff cycle reminiscent of the 1930 Smoot-Hawley cascade or merely nudges firms to warehouse inside Europe will decide if the move is a footnote or a milestone in the slow re-bordering of global trade.
Perspectives
European mainstream & business media
e.g., Financial Times, Euronews — Portrays the accelerated removal of the €150 duty-free threshold as a long-overdue move to shield EU retailers, close loopholes and assert the bloc’s economic sovereignty. Focuses on protecting European industry and ‘fair competition’, but glosses over higher costs for consumers and the protectionist tilt that benefits domestic incumbents cited by their own sources.
Chinese-oriented/Asian press
e.g., South China Morning Post — Frames the decision chiefly as an EU attempt to curb a “flood” of cheap Chinese goods, underscoring how Temu and Shein will be hit and highlighting the speed with which Europe is moving. Highlights the punitive angle toward Chinese platforms and hints at trade friction while skimming over European safety or regulatory concerns, reflecting sensitivity to Beijing’s interests.
China-skeptic US/International outlets
e.g., The Epoch Times — Welcomes the fast-track crackdown, stressing how the de minimis rule has ‘benefited’ Chinese e-retailers and presenting the ministers’ move as a decisive blow against unfair Chinese trade practices. Echoes a broader anti-Beijing narrative common to the outlet, potentially overstating the strategic threat from cheap parcels and omitting any consumer downsides or WTO-rule questions.