The company, which was founded in China and sells clothing manufactured there, is now the top fast fashion retailer in the US. But the de minimis rule also has powerful defenders. EXPORTSChina’s exports grew only 0.6 percent last year, but the bright spot was cross-border e-commerce, which includes but is not limited to the de minimis packages. It is unclear how much fentanyl and other illicit drugs might be slipping undetected into the country in small packages. On a recent Friday morning at Chicago’s O’Hare airport, small parcels that had arrived by mail from overseas were on conveyor belts going through X-ray machines for inspection.
