With last week’s end to the de minimis rule for shipping in the United States, several European yarn brands have indicated they will pause shipping to the states until rules on exactly what and how tariff payments are to be collected are ironed out.
The de minimis rule allowed packages with a value less than $800 to be shipped into the United States without paying import taxes. With the repeal of that rule, tariffs ranging from 10 to 50 percent of the product’s value, depending on the country of origin, have to be paid. (Manufacturers or consumers could also pay a flat fee of $80 to $200 per shipment.)
More than 30 countries said they would stop some or all mail shipments to the United States temporarily while the new rules are ironed out.
In the meantime, yarn companies including Knitting for Olive, which is based in Denmark, UK’s Jamieson & Smith and French company De Rerum Natura are a few who have said they will stop shipping directly to American consumers.
Yarn stores may still be able to receive wholesale orders from companies that have stopped shipping directly to consumers, but that yarn is still going to be more expensive than it was before tariffs increased.
As yarn expert Clara Parkes has noted (and is quoted in this story from Slate about de minimis and its effect on knitters) the vast majority of yarn sales in the world probably go to American knitters, so companies the world over will take a hit if they can’t ship to America or more Americans stop buying as much yarn because it is more expensive. This Washington Post story notes that increased tariffs and shipping costs could make a ball of yarn that was $16 cost more like $80 now.
And while it’s possible to buy American yarn (I have a post all about American made yarn over on Our Daily Craft) it’s not exactly inexpensive either, for the most part, and there are very few mills set up to spin yarn in America. Even with foreign made yarn being harder to come by and/or more expensive, that’s probably not enough incentive for people to want to open more mills in the states.
Independent yarn stores are struggling to determine what they can buy and have shipped to the states without being cost prohibitive for their shoppers and while still making a profit themselves.
While there’s hope that some of the tariffs will go away with court rulings saying that a supposed national emergency couldn’t be used to increase tariffs, we’re all kind of waiting and seeing right now. I for one am knitting from stash as much as possible, though I know that doesn’t help the knitting industry as a whole. If you’re an American knitter I’d love to hear what your plans are for getting any yarn you may need in the immediate future.
