Le'go my LEGO

First published in the Brunswick Beacon, 11.06.25

Add LEGO to “things Trump made worse” with what the Wall Street Journal called “The Dumbest Trade War in History.” Because Trump eliminated the “de minimis” exemption, LEGO ended its Pick-a-Brick program for American customers.

“De minimis” means “too small to bother with.” The policy sensibly exempted low-cost items from import fees, saving the administrative cost of clearing and taxing small purchases made primarily by lower-income Americans, which yield little customs revenue for the government. The average value of such shipments was $48 in 2024, according to U.S. Customs.

LEGO’s Pick-a-Brick program allows kids to buy individual bricks, which is important to any kid who plays with LEGOs because specialized pieces are easily lost, hard to come by and crucial to complete LEGO projects, as any kid will tell you.

Many LEGO bricks in the Pick-a-Brick collection cost under a dollar. Most were shipped from LEGO’s home facilities in Denmark. LEGO says the program will no longer be available to Americans because, under Trump’s new tariff policy, it’s prohibitively expensive to ship them.

The elimination of the exemption isn’t just hurting LEGO fans. Products from Amazon and Etsy are getting hit with new fees, as are shipments from low-cost fashion retailers like Claire’s, whose recent Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing called Trump’s tariffs a contributing factor.

The U.N.’s Universal Postal Union says 88 postal services suspended shipments to the U.S. because of Trump’s policy and that postal traffic to the U.S. has “come to a near halt.” Foreign businesses that rely on those postal services currently have no way of getting goods to the United States.

Economists say Trump’s trade war is fueling inflation’s biggest surge in three years, and hurts lower-income Americans most because they make most small-dollar purchases. Just as he did with his Bonanza for Billionaires, Trump is making the rich richer and the poor poorer, dismantling the foundation of our economy brick by brick.

Bob Bannerman

Supply