DHL Group will look to hire workers in locations such as Malaysia if U.S. President Donald Trump removes a tax exemption for lower-value shipments, DHL Express chief executive officer John Pearson said.

The logistics industry was whipsawed in February by an executive order that canceled the de minimis rule — a longstanding exemption from trade tax on imports worth $800 or less — specifically for imports from China. The exemption has been particularly advantageous for low-cost Chinese retailers such as Temu and Shein in their successful bid to expand U.S. sales, and more than 60% of de minimis shipments came from China in 2023. However, the executive order, which targeted the more than a billion small-value e-commerce packages that ship from China to the U.S. annually, was suspended after its abrupt implementation sparked chaos at the U.S. Postal Service. 

“If this came back, we would hire more people, not necessarily in our U.S. gateways, but maybe in Malaysia,” Pearson said in an interview March 12 in Mexico City. He estimated DHL could hire about 200 workers to help to process shipments. 

Global Trade to Grow Despite Tariff Fears, DHL Express CEO Says

Yet Pearson noted that if Trump reinstates a version of the order but lowers the threshold to $250, for instance, e-commerce companies that sell cheaper products wouldn’t be affected. “A lot of the Shein, Temu volumes are $75, $80, $90, so it just goes straight through,” he said. 

If the de minimis rule gets squashed, another possibility is that carriers like DHL could see an increase in bulk imports and more fulfillment of goods in the U.S., rather than overseas, DHL chief executive officer Tobias Meyer said in a separate interview with Bloomberg News in Chicago on March 12. 

But it would take time for the industry to adapt to the change. “If everybody has, let’s say, three months’ time or so to change their systems, Customs and Border Patrol gets also prepared for that, I do think you can have a relatively smooth transition,” Meyer said.

Pearson said Shein utilizes all of DHL’s network. “They’re in many senses a perfect and respected customer because they use all aspects of what our supply chain capability is,” he said.

Pearson said that in spite of the on-again, off-again tariff announcements from Trump, he expects demand for express shipping to grow this year. “We saw a recovery in quarter four and we continue to see a recovery in 2025,” he said. “Trade is very resilient, and don’t underestimate the creativity of buyers and sellers who want to do business together.”