WASHINGTON, Sept 11 (Reuters) - A majority of Democratic

U.S. House of Representatives members on Wednesday urged

President Joe Biden to use his executive powers to end a tariff

"loophole" for low-value packages that they say are being

exploited by Chinese e-commerce firms and fentanyl traffickers.

The lawmakers in a letter asked Biden to end the "de

minimis" trade provision that allows shipments valued under $800

to enter the U.S. duty free and without customs inspections as

long as they are addressed to individuals.

The substantial limit has fueled the growth of Chinese

e-commerce firms Shein and PDD Holdings' Temu, which ship to

U.S. consumers directly from China, but other retailers,

including Amazon ( AMZN ) and Walmart ( WMT ), are also utilizing it. The

small-package exemption has been part of U.S. trade law since

1930, but the threshold was increased to $800 from $200 in 2015.

The lawmakers, led by Earl Blumenauer, Rosa DeLauro and Tom

Suozzi, argued that the de minimis provision was being exploited

by traffickers of the deadly opioid fentanyl and its precursor

chemicals.

"The urgency of closing the de minimis loophole cannot be

overstated. Americans continue to die from mislabeled

fentanyl-laced pills that are ordered online, skirt inspection

thanks to de minimis and are delivered to Americans' doorsteps,"

they wrote. "De minimis imports, particularly from China, also

evade most existing trade enforcement mechanisms, including the

Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act and Section 301 tariffs used

to hold trade cheats accountable."

The National Council of Textile Organizations, representing

domestic manufacturers, argues that de minimis shipments from

fast-fashion e-commerce firms including Shein are dodging the

punitive "Section 301" tariffs on many Chinese textile imports

and have led some 18 U.S. plants to close in the last year

alone.

The group said shipments keep growing, with over 4 million

individual packages arriving under the threshold daily, topping

1 billion last year.

The total value of estimated imports of low-value shipments

under the de minimis threshold has more than doubled since 2014

to $23.4 billion last year, making it the 12th largest U.S.

import category globally, according to U.S. Census Bureau data

retrieved through the International Trade Centre's Trademap

tool. That is just ahead of medium-duty pickup trucks, largely

from Mexico.

Such shipments from China also more than doubled to $4.6

billion over the same period, making it the eighth largest

category after computer monitors.

A White House spokesperson could not immediately be reached

for comment on the request by the lawmakers, who also have been

working on legislation to close the de minimis provision.

The National Foreign Trade Council, a trade group

representing interests of a wide range of U.S. companies,

cautioned the move would raise costs for consumers at time when

inflation is a hot issue in the November presidential election

campaign.

"Weakening de minimis would cost consumers billions, require

new appropriations for Customs and Border Protection, and do

nothing to enhance enforcement or improve security at our

ports," NFTC supply chain senior director John Pickel said in a

statement.