Adopt a package of measures decoupling from China
What the document says“The next American President should strongly consider adopting all of them as a package”
The essay lists the measures: financial and tax incentives for companies onshoring production from China, ending the de minimis exemption for parcels under $800, barring Chinese state-owned enterprises from federal procurement, prohibiting Chinese-made drones in American airspace, banning Chinese social media applications including TikTok and WeChat, prohibiting Chinese investment in high-technology industries, and barring US pension funds from investing in Chinese companies.
What the document actually says“The next American President should strongly consider adopting all of them as a package”
The next president should think hard about doing all of these at once.
This essay lists many steps to cut ties with China. They cover trade, money and apps. It says the next president should do them all together.
This chapter contains the opposing case. 'The Case for Free Trade', by Kent Lassman, argues the reverse: that tariffs have backfired, that trade policy is the wrong tool for industrial goals, and that the next Administration should ignore what it calls populist ideologues seeking protection. Neither essay is presented as the chapter's conclusion.
Suspending Duty-Free De Minimis Treatment for All Countries
2025-07-30 · 90 FR 37775
One item on the first essay's list was ending what it called China's abuse of the de minimis exemption for parcels under $800. This order suspends that treatment for all countries rather than for China specifically, and the essay's other listed measures are separate.
One item on the essay's list was ending China's use of the duty free rule. It covers parcels worth less than $800. This order ends that break for all countries, not just China. The essay's other steps stand apart.
4 agency rules
- Enhanced Air Cargo Advance Screening (ACAS)Homeland Security Department, U.S. Customs and Border Protection · November 21, 2025
- Indefinite Suspension of the De Minimis Exemption for Mail Shipments and New Postal Informal Entry ProcessHomeland Security Department, U.S. Customs and Border Protection · June 24, 2026
- Indefinite Suspension of the De Minimis Exemption for Merchandise Arriving Through All Modes Other Than the International Postal NetworkHomeland Security Department, U.S. Customs and Border Protection · June 24, 2026
- Duty Collection for Domestic Mail Arriving From Certain Insular Possessions and TerritoriesPostal Service · July 30, 2026
Each of these names the order above in its own summary, preamble or filing. That is a fact about the document, not a finding that it carries out this proposal: it is one step further away than the order is, and what it does about the proposal is a reading nobody has made here.