Senator Ron Wyden in a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick seen by Reuters requested answers on how the department concluded that adequate systems were in place to collect duties on low-value packages as the exemption ended on August 29. The de minimis exemption allowed nearly 1.4 billion packages to enter the U.S. duty free in 2024 and fueled a boom in direct-to-consumer e-commerce shipments from Chinese e-commerce firms Shein and Temu . Postal Service declined to comment on incoming shipment volumes for foreign postal packages. Shippers of illicit drugs and fentanyl precursor chemicals also have exploited de minimis due to limited inspections for many packages claiming the exemption. (Reporting by David Lawder and Lisa Baertlein; editing by Diane Craft)