Executive Order 14227: Amendment to Duties To Address the Situation at Our Southern Border

What does Executive Order 14227 do?

EO 14227 restored duty-free de minimis treatment only for otherwise eligible covered articles from Mexico while collection systems were being prepared. It replaced EO 14194 section 2(g) with an event-triggered rule: the relief would cease when the Commerce Secretary notified the President that adequate systems could process and collect the applicable revenue. It did not set a new percentage duty, forgive accrued duties or promise exemption for every small parcel. Signed section 1.

Reading the operative provisions of Executive Order 14227

This order changes the timing and customs treatment of the underlying southern-border duties. It tied the low-value shipment exemption to whether the government had systems capable of collecting the applicable duties, with the Commerce Secretary’s notification to the President as the specified trigger. The change affected how shipments could enter and how customs would assess charges; it did not create the underlying border emergency finding from scratch. The amendment appears in the Federal Register text of EO 14227.

The order relied on IEEPA, so its present legal status must be read alongside the Supreme Court’s later decision concerning the challenged IEEPA tariff program and the lower-court proceedings cited in this guide. A court ruling can block collection or invalidate an asserted authority within the scope of the case; it does not necessarily erase every customs entry already made or decide every later tariff imposed under a different statute. The Superseded label here concerns the earlier conditional restoration, which later de minimis measures replaced; it is not a conclusion that the Court invalidated every customs measure.

After the IEEPA decision, the administration separately invoked section 122 of the Trade Act to impose a temporary surcharge. That later authority has its own proclamation, rate, dates and statutory limit, so it must not be treated as a continuation of EO 14227. Importers and readers should distinguish the source of authority shown on a customs entry: an IEEPA duty connected to this amendment, a later section 122 surcharge, or another tariff program. The Federal Register notice for the temporary section 122 measure illustrates the separate legal route.

The later global order supplied the missing implementation link: EO 14324’s background expressly identified EO 14227’s pause and recorded a Commerce notification that systems were ready globally. Its suspension and entry requirements took effect for covered consumption entries or warehouse withdrawals from August 29, 2025, at 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time. The notification is evidenced by that signed recital; this guide does not invent an earlier date for the underlying notification letter. EO 14324, sections 1, 2 and 4(a).

The end of the IEEPA tariffs was not a return to the earlier low-value exemption. EO 14388 continued the separate suspension, and EO 14389 section 2(c) expressly left that action unaffected. CBP then published two interim final rules on June 24, 2026, independently invoking its customs authority under 19 U.S.C. 1321. The suspension provisions took effect that day; the postal rule had later dates for other requirements. Both rules distinguish this administrative exemption from the separate gift and traveler provisions. Later de minimis order; Nonpostal rule, background and dates; Postal rule, background and dates.

For practical entry questions, use the later official customs instructions rather than this superseded pause as an exemption certificate. CBP’s October 8, 2026 Low-Value Shipments document proposes revised filing, postal entry and bonding requirements, with comments due December 7. It is a notice of proposed rulemaking, not a final adoption of those proposed changes. Official proposal, summary and comment deadline.