British artist Jess Chappell is cutting off sales to the United States as new trade policies take effect this week. It's a decision she never imagined she'd have to make. But with U.S. tariffs tacked on, the animal-themed note cards, ornaments and stickers she sells on Etsy — most for under $25 — could become significantly more expensive. Chappell has decided shipping to U.S.-based customers no longer makes financial sense. President Donald Trump announced last month that the United States is ending the "de minimis" exemption — meaning packages valued at less than $800 that were once protected from tariffs will soon be subject to them. The new rules take effect Friday. Days after the announcement, Chappell wrote on Facebook, "This whole thing is breaking my heart." In anticipation of the change, Chappell turned off Etsy orders to the United States on Aug. 19. She said Etsy revenue over the last week is down around 70% from a year ago. The United States has been the biggest country for Chappell's bottom line — she estimates sales to customers there have made up half of her income. Without her U.S. sales, Chappell stands to lose tens of thousands of dollars a year. "It's a big blow for me, and obviously it's a big blow for customers," she said. Chappell doesn't have any formal art training, but she has always enjoyed the work and even did commission work on the side for a few years. So when she was laid off at her insurance job, she decided to become an artist, launching Animal Art by Jess in 2016. Pretty early on, she turned to Etsy, and it has become a huge part of her business. Her revenue over the last couple of years has hovered around $60,000 to $70,000, with a profit of about $30,000. She said more than half of her revenue during the U.K.'s April 2023-to-April 2024 tax year came from Etsy. She sells an assortment of items on the platform featuring various breeds of dogs and cats, plus zanier picks like pangolins, narwhals and axolotls. She also makes custom art like pet portraits. And Chappell, who lives in York, England, sells some items in a local shop. The business has offered her much-needed flexibility. Chappell said a car hit her as she walked to her previous office job. Since then, she said, she has had a string of health issues and injuries. "There have definitely been times when working a normal 9-5 would have been very difficult, but running my own business means that I can choose when I work and what type of work I do," she said. "When I can't sit down for long periods, it's easy to take a break or pivot to something else that I can do standing up." Chappell said she has always loved animals and making animal art, and she has built up a loyal following of customers over the years. "I have customers that I've had since I started, and I've painted all of their dogs and cats they've got," she said. "I've got a couple that have entire walls of my paintings, and they're really upset that they might not be able to buy from me again." The de minimis exemption has allowed small businesses like Chappell's to sell to U.S. customers without racking up massive charges for shipping overseas. But the U.S. government this year has taken several steps to eliminate that policy in the U.S. tax law. In May, the de minimis exemption ended for items from China and Hong Kong. Then, the tax and spending law Trump signed in July eliminated the exemption for all countries starting in 2027. That gave Chappell some time to find a new way forward. But on July 30, the Trump administration put out an executive order hastening the timeline: Instead of two years to get ready, businesses like Chappell's selling overseas had mere weeks to plan for a dramatically different future. Starting Friday, low-value packages will face either the tariff rates the United States has on an item's country of origin (currently 10% for the U.K.) or charges of $80 to $200 — plus additional taxes and fees in some cases. And it's not just small businesses like Chappell's navigating uncertain waters. Mail companies in dozens of countries — including Royal Mail, which Chappell typically uses to send packages to the United States — have paused shipments to the United States as they sort through the changes and update their shipping procedures. Etsy alsosuspended shipping label purchasesfor Royal Mail and several other postal carriers for U.S.-bound packages. The Trump administrationsaid it's ending the exemptionto protect Americans. It said the provision, which was codified in the U.S. tax code, has been used to "evade tariffs and funnel deadly synthetic opioids as well as other unsafe or below-market products that harm American workers and businesses into the United States." De minimis shipping volume has ballooned over the past few years — rising from about 637 million shipments in the 2020 fiscal year to nearly 1.4 billion in 2024, according todata from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. China accounted for around three-quarters of the 2024 volume. The U.K. cracked the top five but accounted for a much smaller share, at around 3%. "I appreciate that the reasoning behind a lot of it is to stop all of the cheap imports from China," Chappell said. "But we're very different businesses to those ones." Chappell already slowed down selling to countries in the European Union over the last couple years after changes to regulations there, and she stopped altogether in December. Now, the U.S. end to the de minimis exemption leaves her with even fewer places to sell her art. "More and more countries are introducing taxes and other barriers to selling internationally," she said. "It's just sad that it's people like us who get caught up in that." Chappell hopes that in a couple of months, she'll be able to at least restart portrait sales to U.S. customers, but the damage will already have been done. "The problem is that those five or six months is Christmas for me, which is the majority of my income for the year," she said. "I stand to lose a lot of money from not selling to the U.S. But I don't see any other option." Chappell is unsure whether she will ever resume selling to U.S. customers on Etsy. Etsy said that as the new trade policies take effect, it is fortifying purchase protection, letting buyers know whether their orders may be subject to tariffs, advocating for small businesses and making it easier for sellers to confirm their countries of origin before they ship their items. "Etsy is closely monitoring rapidly evolving regulatory changes and remains committed to showing up for our community by providing a transparent, reliable experience for shoppers and equipping sellers with the support they need to succeed," CEO Josh Silverman said. For now, Chappell is looking to sell more in U.K. shops. She hopes to stay an artist full time if she can. "I love working for myself. I love interacting with my customers. I ove spending my days painting," she said. "It's not like I'm making huge amounts of money, but it's just worth it to do something that I love."
