The tariff on small packages worth up to $800 (£606) have been cut from 120% to 54%, according to a White House statement.

BBC News reports that President Donald Trump reduced the tariff on small parcels sent from mainland China and Hong Kong to the U.S., shortly after the world's two biggest economies said they would cut levies on each other's goods for 90 days.

The flat fee per parcel will remain at $100, while a $200 charge due to apply from June 1 has been cancelled.

The duty-free rule, known as de minimis, which effectively exempted all packages of a value below $800 from both tariffs and extra customs scrutiny, was cancelled by the Trump administration May 2.

Read More: Temu Ceases All Exports to U.S. Consumers

De minimis imports have surged dramatically since 2018, with China accounting for nearly two-thirds of 2.3 billion duty-free shipments between 2018 and 2021, and Chinese e-commerce giants Temu and Shein combining to account for 30% of 2022's total alone, according to the U.S. International Trade Commission. 

As economic think tank The Cato Institute notes, that can be traced back to 2018's trade war between the U.S. and China, when the U.S. began to implement aggressive tariffs on an array of Chinese imports. 

That pushed many suppliers in China that had previously shipped low-cost consumer goods in bulk to restructure their operations by using de minimis exemptions to get around U.S. levies.

Chinese online retail giants Shein and Temu had previously relied on the so-called "de minimis" exemption to ship low-value items directly to customers in the U.S. without having to pay duties or import taxes.