Tariffs may sound simple on paper, but they unleash a tangle of costs for small businesses

"Vagara runs JCV Custom Works, a tiny 3D printing business that has sold stencils for fishing lures since 2019. Nearly all of his orders are bound for the US. In late August, when the US scrapped its de minimis exemption on small-value imports, Singapore's national postal service suspended shipping to America. So Vagara switched to a private courier - but his first shipments never left Singapore."

"He eventually found another private courier that cleared the additional paperwork and got his parcels through in about a week. But the fix came at a cost: Where he once charged a flat $15 for shipping, he now bills US customers $25. It's a meaningful increase for his products, which cost $14 to $75 each. But it's still below Vagara's final cost of about $36 to ship each item, after taxes and other incidentals are accounted for."

"Vagara also had to take time to study obscure Harmonized Tariff Schedule codes - previously a formality that is now critical in determining tariff rates for the four to five parcels he ships each week, with each one totaling $200 to $400. "In the past, I didn't have to declare the HTS code. Now it's important," he said. His products are reaching buyers again, but his profits have taken a 10% to 15% hit, and he implemented a minimum order of $50 to manage costs."

The US ended its de minimis exemption at the end of August, disrupting low-value imports and prompting postal suspensions and courier delays. Small exporters experienced returned parcels, additional paperwork, higher shipping fees, and longer transit times. Many businesses increased prices, imposed minimum order sizes, or absorbed profit losses of roughly 10–15 percent to cope. Sellers must now determine Harmonized Tariff Schedule codes for each parcel and face potential inspections, inventory losses, and added administrative burdens. Larger global firms largely remain insulated by scale and existing compliance systems, leaving small firms particularly exposed to tariff-related shocks.

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