Bandcamp and Discogs are issuing warnings. Those involved in media are pointing out that US Presidential authority doesn’t apply to items like CDs and vinyl, publications, and other media. And Bandcamp is even offering sellers the chance to disable sales to the USA. The Trump Administration-induced trade chaos continues.
CDs, cassettes, vinyl records, books, and zines should be exempt
Let’s talk first about the so-called “informational media” exception. The reason you may not have heard about this before is that the Trump Administration, apparently keen to publicize that it’s taxing everything from everywhere, didn’t call attention to it. But whatever the reason, it is part of the US legal code that defines what a US President can and can’t do. (It is not, as the current President recently argued, defined as “I’m the President and I can do what I want.” That’s Veruka Salt, not the leader of the United States.) Updated: A federal appeals court ruling struck down many of the tariffs, too, but that won’t provide any relief — not yet, anyway. Enforcement is delayed until October, and that leaves time for the administration to go to the Supreme Court. For now, this is all we’ve got:
Read section 2 (b), (3):
50 U.S. Code § 1702 – Presidential authorities [Cornell Law School]
(3) the importation from any country, or the exportation to any country, whether commercial or otherwise, regardless of format or medium of transmission, of any information or informational materials, including but not limited to, publications, films, posters, phonograph records, photographs, microfilms, microfiche, tapes, compact disks, CD ROMs, artworks, and news wire feeds.
US Customs and Border Protection confirmed that this was an exception yesterday.
There are controls allowed to “promote the … antiterrorism policies of the United States,” which could mean someone at customs warps the rule and decides to pull your Palestine zine or compilation, but let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.
Oh, and in case this had you worried about your next trip to the dear USA — hi Mom and Dad, I am still coming to visit — there’s also an exemption for your personal luggage.
This should make you feel better, but don’t feel better yet. Chaos at the border and uncertainty about how customs will even enforce all these rules could mean that exempted goods run into trouble, too. And you need the shipper to be operating in the first place. Many postal services have completely suspended all services.
Bandcamp interprets this like so — and notes that it’s all academic if your local post won’t even ship to the USA:
That includes vinyl records, CDs, cassettes, books, sheet music, and other items. Despite this exception, many global mail carriers have suspended shipments to the United States without regard to the contents of the package.
— which brings us to the next point.
Bandcamp issues a warning and lets you turn off non-digital US sales
You read that right. You can turn off sales of t-shirts, vinyl records, or whatever else you may be selling in your physical store.
Honestly, what prompted my last story was that I already knew a couple of labels were doing this, because it’s more than an independent label run by a hobbyist can possibly handle:
We now provide the option for sellers to temporarily disable merch sales from non-US shipping origins to the US. This can be controlled per origin in Edit Profile > Physical Goods > Shipping from. We strongly encourage sellers to communicate directly with your US buyers during this sensitive time. For more guidance, please head to our help center.
Note that digital goods are unaffected — for now. It is possible that even digital business with the USA will be impacted elsewhere;
Discogs warns of delays — and has some good advice
Discogs also warns of detlays, complications, issues with commercial carriers, the possibility of higher costs, and just as importantly, the chance that all of this will result in negative feedback from your buyers.
Their whole article is worth a read, but let’s call particular attention to their advice. Any of you who regularly ship items with customs forms know this already, but it’s a good reminder:
- Provide clear descriptions. We strongly recommend including precise descriptions. For example, instead of “vinyl,” use “Informational Materials: phonograph (vinyl) record,” and instead of “cassette,” use “Informational Materials: music cassette tape” as these phrases are more in line with the legal terminology.
- Use the correct HS codes. Please use the appropriate Harmonized System (HS) codes, which can be found on the commercial receipt provided by Discogs.
See their post from the 27th, updated yesterday:
Everything We Know About the US Tariff Situation and How It Affects the Discogs Community
Want to look up an HS code? You can try this tool from the US government:
Be careful which HS code you use. Ian Boddy writes me to note that when he chose 85238090, which is just generic storage media, posting from the UK incurred a tariff. That makes sense — you’re not specifying that there’s information on the media, which is what circumvents the US President’s authority to impose that tariff.
You want something more precise — in his case, it’s 8523.49.40.00 for a CD. Cassette tapes with music are 8523.29.40.10. The codes are hierarchical, so you’re looking for the most precise subcategory. And vinyl is… a nightmare, actually, because while these codes are supposed to be harmonized vinyl records differ by country. Here’s an explanation:
Vinyl Records HS Code: Quick Reference for Shipping (2025)
Wait, isn’t this a lot of extra work? Now you’re getting it. All of this adds complexity, which is why a de minimis threshold exists in the first place.
This, too, (may) pass
I think it is important to note that this situation will not necessarily be permanent. Everyone involved — okay, with the possible exception of the current US government — is looking to get this fixed. Carriers like DHL do want to retain their lucrative postal business. And of course, in the 21st century it should still be possible to ship to the world’s largest consumer market. I think. So we’ll keep an eye on how this evolves.
Previously (and this is all still valid):
Feature image is from 1989 in Albany, New York.
“Tour de Trump” by Donald West, CC BY 2.0I found that by accident, but of course it turns out there’s a backstory:
The wild story behind Tour de Trump, the Trump-sponsored bike race that became one of the biggest cycling events in American history [Business Insider]
CDM: Sending you down completely irrelevant link holes that have nothing to do with the site’s topic since 2005. (It’s good, it’ll take your mind off things while you’re not shipping.)