Two weeks ago we placed a $6000 order electronic components (1000 units at $6/each) from our supplier. Our tariff bill has since ballooned $9000. We would not have placed the order at $15/each but it's too late to cancel. The order won't be complete for another three weeks and if this keeps escalating we may have to abandon the order and temporarily shut down.
There are two evasive actions we are considering mostly out of protest to being taxed without Congressional approval:
1) Break this shipment into 8 orders spread out over a month with a declared value of $750 each ? That would be below the $800 de minimis value which is exempt IIRC. Or does a US department keep track of the total shipments to prevent this loophole ?
2) Fly to Shenzhen pickup the order and fly back to SF with it in a back pack without declaring it. All the units would fit in a shoebox. We could have an invoice mocked up showing it's total value is below $800.
Does any U.S. citizen have experience with not declaring the value of expensive merchandise purchased overseas ? A shoebox of 1000 small circuit boards almost ensures I'll be questioned, but since it is a custom circuit there is no way to confirm the purchase price isn't what I declare it to be.
Thanks in advance for any feedback.
Perhaps relocate to a country that is not attempting a global trade collapse and fascism. That is still legal for you. It might not be in the future.
I don't think you have a moral duty to pay tariffs, but evading the tariff doesn't seem like a very effective form of "protest", as if you are successful at evading it, probably nobody else (except maybe a couple of HN readers) will ever know.
If you're interested in the protest angle in the sense of telling someone with some kind of power about your problem, you might contact your U.S. representative's office and talk about how the tariff is threatening your U.S. manufacturing business.
> A shoebox of 1000 small circuit boards almost ensures I'll be questioned
Depending on the airport (maybe depending on the specific flight) there may not be any individual examination of most passengers' baggage. On the other hand, intentionally misleading the agents who are examining you could potentially get you in a lot of trouble, as you can be punished just for that, separately from the tariff evasion.
But one time I was flying back from Canada, and the guy in the seat next to me was not shy about his critical mission to hand deliver 5000 parts from one of the major capacitor manufacturers, directly to a plant in Mexico that was suffering a shortage. This has to be carry-on, checking them as baggage is not an option.
What are the odds, this can't be that uncommon.
I think people would pay extra for a foreign manufacturer or distributor to courier the essential package ASAP and handle the paperwork no differently than the way they have been doing it for others.
3rd option make the parts in the US if your going to sell them in the US.