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【United State】Tariffs Cause Small Jewelers to Halt U.S. Shipments

Sep 5, 2025

Editor’s Note

**Editor’s Note:** This article examines the immediate impact of the recent elimination of the de minimis rule on small jewelry businesses, highlighting how new tariffs have led foreign artisans to pause U.S. shipments and disrupted longstanding trade practices.

Industry

Tariffs Cause Small Jewelers to Halt U.S. Shipments

By Rob Bates | September 05, 2025

Several small foreign jewelry companies have halted sales to U.S. customers due to the new tariffs imposed by President Trump.

Postal services in more than 20 countries have suspended shipments due to the end of the de minimis rule that allowed the duty-free import of packages below $800. That exemption, which dates back to 1930, was eliminated on shipments from all countries on Aug. 28, following an executive order signed by Trump the month before. (Trump ended the exemption for Chinese shipments in May.)

As a result, many smaller overseas companies now say they’ll send product anywhere but the United States. And they’ve issued a flurry of apologetic posts and emails to U.S. buyers, explaining that for logistical and financial reasons they just can’t ship here anymore.

Irish jeweler Gina Pankowski said the new levies have led her to both pause U.S. sales and close her Etsy shop.

“Neither the U.S. or Ireland have systems in place to manage the changes yet,” she wrote on Facebook. “Etsy has also not made any updates to their systems related to the new U.S. tariffs.”

“Regretfully I must cancel all current sales I have pending for my U.S. customers and temporarily stop doing business with U.S. buyers. This has caused a loss of over $900.00 just this week for me.”

While some Canadian shippers still service the U.S., British Columbia–based Hot Rocks Jewellery by Susan Stevens says that new procedures make it too expensive to do so.

“Every package going into the United States now has to have duties and tariffs prepaid to be accepted at the post office,” the company said on Facebook. “The way to calculate this and get the documentation required to ship is with the Zonos app. So for a necklace selling for $135.00 CAD, an American customer will now pay an additional $47.25 plus the shipping fee, which I charge $14.00 for a tracked packet to the USA.… I’m thinking that’s probably not going to work for them.”

Nancy Wallis Designs, based in Toronto, posted that the tariffs have “created challenges too big for a small business like mine to manage right now.”

“I love making jewelry and sending it to you—over the years you’ve become not just customers but friends,” wrote Wallis. “That’s why this makes me so sad.”

“Ultimately, I don’t want you to face unexpected charges, delays at the border, returns or possible lost shipments in this mess.”

In some cases, non-U.S. companies have continued to ship items advertised with pre-tariff prices—leaving buyers caught off guard when they’re hit with unexpected fees.

But in the jewelry space, at least, most small vendors seemingly want to avoid the issue.

“As a very small independent business, we’re just simply not able to afford taking on the new charges and we don’t want our wonderful customers to be impacted, either,” wrote “Steph,” founder of Little Gold, based in British Columbia, in an email. “This is definitely not a decision we wanted to make. We love our U.S. customers and have been so grateful for all your support.”

(Photo: Getty Images)

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⏰ Published on: September 05, 2025