Libraries Can’t Get Their Loaned Books Back Because of Trump’s Tariffs
The Trump administration’s tariff regime and the elimination of fee exemptions for items under $800 is limiting resource sharing between university libraries, trapping some books in foreign countries, and reversing long-held standards in academic cooperation.
“There are libraries that have our books that we've lent to them before all of this happened, and now they can't ship them back to us because their carrier either is flat out refusing to ship anything to the U.S., or they're citing not being able to handle the tariff situation,” Jessica Bower Relevo, associate director of resource sharing and reserves at Yale University Library, told me.
After Trump’s executive order ended the de minimis exemption, which allowed people to buy things internationally without paying tariffs if the items cost less than $800, we’ve written several stories about how the decision caused chaos over a wide variety of hobbies that rely on people buying things overseas, especially on Ebay, where many of those transactions take place.
Libraries that share their materials internationally are in a similar mess, partly because some countries’ mail services stopped shipments to and from the U.S. entirely, but the situation for them is arguably even more complicated because they’re not selling anything—they’re just lending books.
“It's not necessarily too expensive. It's that they don't have a mechanism in place to deal with the tariffs and how they're going to be applied,” Relevo said. “And I think that's true of U.S. shipping carriers as well. There’s a lot of confusion about how to handle this situation.”
“The tariffs have impacted interlibrary loans in various ways for different libraries,” Heather Evans, a librarian at RMIT University in Australia, told me in an email. “It has largely depended on their different procedures as to how much they have been affected. Some who use AusPost [Australia’s postal service] to post internationally have been more impacted and I've seen many libraries put a halt on borrowing to or from the US at all.” (AusPost suspended all shipments to the United States but plans to renew them on October 7).
Relevo told me that in some cases books are held up in customs indefinitely, or are “lost in warehouses” where they are held for no clear reason.
As Relevo explains it, libraries often provide people in foreign institutions books in their collections by giving them access to digitized materials, but some books are still only available in physical copies. These are not necessarily super rare or valuable books, but books that are only in print in certain countries. For example, a university library might have a specialized collection on a niche subject because it’s the focus area of a faculty member, a French university will obviously have a deeper collection of French literature, and some textbooks might only be published in some languages.
A librarian’s job is to give their community access to information, and international interlibrary loans extend that mission to other countries by having libraries work together. In the past, if an academic in the U.S. wanted access to a French university’s deep collection of French literature, they’d have to travel there. Today, academics can often ask that library to ship them the books they want. Relevo said this type of lending has always been useful, but became especially popular and important during COVID lockdowns, when many libraries were closed and international travel was limited.
“Interlibrary loans has been something that libraries have been able to do for a really long time, even back in the early 1900s,” Relevo said. “If we can't do that anymore and we're limiting what our users can access, because maybe they're only limited to what we have in our collection, then ultimately could hinder academic progress. Scholars have enjoyed for decades now the ability to basically get whatever they need for their research, to be very comprehensive in their literature reviews or the references that they need, or past research that's been done on that topic, because most libraries, especially academic libraries, do offer this service [...] If we can't do that anymore, or at least there's a barrier to doing that internationally, then researchers have to go back to old ways of doing things.”
The Trump administration upended this system of knowledge sharing and cooperation, making life even harder for academics in the U.S., who are already fleeing to foreign universities because they fear the government will censor their research.
The American Library Association (ALA) has a group dedicated to international interlibrary lending, called the International Interlibrary Loan (ILL) Committee, which is nested in the Sharing and Transforming Access to Resources Section (STARS) of the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA). Since Trump’s executive order and tariffs regime, the RUSA STARS International ILL Committee has produced a site dedicated to helping librarians navigate the new, unpredictable landscape.
In addition to explaining the basic facts of the tariffs and de minimis, the site also shares resources and “Tips & Tricks in Uncertain Times,” which encourages librarians to talk to partner libraries before lending or borrowing books, and to “be transparent and set realistic expectations with patrons.” The page also links to an online form that asks librarians to share any information they have about how different libraries are handling the elimination of de minimis in an attempt to crowd source a better understanding of the new international landscape.
“Let's say this library in Germany wanted to ship something to us,” Relevo said. “It sounds like the postal carriers just don't know how to even do that. They don’t know how to pass that tariff on to the library that's getting the material, there's just so much confusion on what you would even do if you even wanted to. So they're just saying, ‘No, we're not shipping to the U.S.’”
Relevo told me that one thing the resource sharing community has talked about a lot is how to label packages so customs agents know they are not [selling] goods to another country. Relevo said that some libraries have marked the value of books they’re lending as $0. Others have used specific codes to indicate the package isn’t a good that’s being bought or sold. But there’s not one method that has worked consistently across the board.
“It does technically have value, because it's a tangible item, and pretty much any tangible item is going to have some sort of value, but we're not selling it,” she said. “We're just letting that library borrow it and then we're going to get it back. But the way customs and tariffs work, it's more to do with buying and selling goods and library stuff isn't really factored into those laws [...] it's kind of a weird concept, especially when you live in a highly capitalized country.”
Relevo said that the last 10-15 years have been a very tumultuous time for libraries, not just because of tariffs, but because AI-generated content, the pandemic, and conservative organizations pressuring libraries to remove certain books from their collections.
“At the end of the day, us librarians just want to help people, so we're just trying to find the best ways to do that right now with the resources we have,” she said.
“What I would like the public to know about the situation is that their librarians as a group are very committed to doing the best we can for them and to finding the best options and ways to fulfill their requests and access needs. Please continue to ask us for what you need,” Evans said. “At the moment we would ask for a little extra patience, and perhaps understanding that we might not be able to get things as urgently for them if it involves the U.S., but we will do as we have always done and search for the fastest and most helpful way to obtain access to what they require.”
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Trump Tariffs Cause Chaos on Ebay as Every Hobby Becomes Logistical Minefield
The Trump administration is throwing various hobbies enjoyed by Americans into chaos and is harming small businesses domestically and abroad with its ever-changing tariff structure that is turning the United States into a hermit kingdom. It has made buying and selling things on eBay particularly annoying, and is making it harder and more expensive to, for example, buy vintage film cameras, retro video games, or vintage clothes from Japan, where many of the top eBay sellers are based.“Trying to figure out what the future of this hobby is going to look like for those of us in the USA (other than insanely expensive),” a post on r/analogcommunity, the most popular film photography subreddit, reads. “All of my lenses and my camera body came from Japan, they would have been prohibitively expensive [now], paying an extra $80 per item. I feel like entry level to this hobby is going to get hit especially hard.” Another meme posted to the community under the title “Shopping on eBay be like this now” reads “The age of the Canon Mint++ is over. The time of the Argus C3 has come,” referring to a common way that Japanese eBay sellers list Japanese-made Canon cameras. The Argus C3 was a budget mass-produced, American-made camera that was not popular in Japan, and so most of the people selling them are in the United States. Some people like them, but it has been nicknamed “the brick” because it “could serve as a deadly weapon in a street fight.” It remains very inexpensive to this day.
The photography hobby is a microcosm of what anyone who wants to buy anything from another country is currently experiencing. The de-minimis exemption, which allowed people to buy things internationally without paying tariffs if the items cost less than $800, made it very easy and less expensive to get into hobbies like film photography, retro video games, and vintage fashion, to name a few. The Trump administration is ending that exemption Friday and it will quickly become a financial and/or logistical mess for anyone who wants to buy or sell anything from another country. Communities and companies focused on electronics, board games, action figures, skincare, flashlights, sex toys, watches, and general ecommerce are also freaking out, stopping service to the United States, or telling U.S. customers to expect higher prices, higher fees, longer shipping times, more paperwork, more headache, and unpredictable delays.
In recent days, national mail carriers in the European Union (including DHL, which is widely used internationally), Australia, India, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and, crucially, Japan, have started restricting many shipments to the United States. Some of the few remaining ways to send shipments internationally to the United States is through UPS and FedEx, which have warned customers that the end of de-minimis means more paperwork, higher shipping prices (both have increased their international processing fees), and also means that either the shipper or the receiver will have to pay tariffs on whatever is being sent, which of course adds both costs and processing time. This is on top of the fact that FedEx and UPS are often more expensive services in the first place.
All of this is a nightmare if you are an eBay buyer or seller, a small business that sells to the United States or that buys things internationally to sell within the United States, or are a mere American resident who has a hobby.
A chart from eBay telling sellers to expect "negative feedback"
Earlier this year, I bought a vintage Super 8 film camera. The vast majority of functioning, good-condition cameras on eBay are shipped from Japan, because that is where a lot of the cameras were manufactured and because there are a huge number of camera businesses there. The camera came in a matter of days, and I did not think at all about customs or how it would be shipped, what the additional costs would be, if it would be held up at customs, where and how I would pay the tariffs, or whether if the duties would be paid by the seller (Delivered Duty Paid or DDP) or by me (Delivered at Place or DAP). These are acronyms you are going to have to get to know and hate, that I have already seen percolating through ecommerce communities.Lots of camera equipment comes from Japan, but so do lots of vintage electronics and rare video games. Many high-quality vintage and preowned designer clothes are also sold by stores in Japan, because Japan has strong anti-counterfeit laws, and so people who are into vintage fashion will regularly try to source things from Japan because they are less likely to be fake. This is to say nothing of all of the other hobbies and interests where products are made and sold elsewhere, but the problem is incredibly stark with camera equipment, because Canon, Nikon, Ricoh, and many other top camera manufacturers are Japanese.
A chart from eBay telling you to look up the Harmonized Tariff Schedule to calculate what the tariffs may be
Tuesday, I messaged about 25 eBay sellers located in Japan asking how they were going to ship their item to California if I purchased it, if I would be subject to tariffs, and how they are handling it. The answers were all over the place. Lots of the sellers told me to buy the item now because items shipped after Thursday would be subject to tariffs: “If you purchase today, I can send it before customs duties are incurred,” one seller told me. “We recommend purchasing as soon as possible,” another told me. “If you place your order today, we can still make it in time,” a third said.“Starting August 29th, tariffs will be imposed on all items in the US, so if you purchase this item, you will be responsible for any customs duties,” another said.
Multiple sellers told me that I should expect anything I bought to be held up at customs, and that I should expect to pay tariffs when it arrives: “While the exact details are still being clarified, it seems that in addition to duties, extra fees may bring the total to around 18–20% of the item’s value,” someone selling a vintage handbag told me. “Because of the changes in customs procedures, shipments may experience additional delays during clearance.”
Multiple eBay sellers in Japan told me that they intend to lie about the value of the items on customs forms, which is a time-honored tradition in international shipping but still does not seem like a good solution: “We will put a 50% reduced product price on the address label. Only this one time,” one seller said, before later adding “we do not mark merchandise values below value or mark items as ‘gifts’ - US and international government regulations prohibit such behavior.” Another told me “the problem is the customs duty, but don’t worry. The amount on the shipping label determines the customs duty. I won’t go into details, but I won’t make it sound bad.”
Another camera seller told me they would charge $20 shipping, then followed up an hour later and said “the shipping cost is actually $30 … with the elimination of the de minimis rule, there is a possibility that services may be suspended. Increased workload from customs procedures could even lead to strikes.” Another said that “If U.S. customs clearance goes smoothly, the package usually arrives within about 5–10 days,” but “Due to recent U.S. customs regulations, the clearance process has become stricter and is taking more time than usual(2-3 weeks). Please understand that, under these circumstances, we are unable to predict the delivery date. We are sorry to tell you that all the import duties and taxes are unpredictable. Customs and duties are different from state to state and country to country and we do not keep track as this is a cost the buyer is responsible in paying.”
eBay is telling buyers that the new, simple process for buying internationally is to look up the item on the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, which is a gigantic list of every possible product and its potential tariff code, “apply some math” to estimate what the tariffs will be, “add shipping provider fees,” which are additional processing fees that shipment services may apply, then wait for a call or email from the shipping processor to go through the duty clearance process and pay them fees. This is instead of the old way, where you simply purchased something, paid a clearly demarcated price, and waited for it to come to your house. eBay has also added a message to item listings that says “Due to US policies, import fees for this item will need to be paid to customs or the shipping carrier on delivery.” eBay is already telling sellers that they can expect “negative feedback” from customers who do not understand this process and might blame it on the seller.
eBay also offers something it calls SpeedPak shipping, which is where an international seller ships their item to an eBay warehouse in their home country, and the item is shipped by eBay aboard a cargo vessel to the United States alongside other purchases. This process takes 8-12 days, eBay says. One Japanese seller who said they use the system told me in practice that shipment takes “about 1 to 2 weeks,” and that they have made the decision to pay tariffs ahead of time for the buyer. Naturally, this leads to increased overhead, however, and surely we will begin to see prices for items sent this way rise.
As you can imagine, people are stressed about all of this. On the eBay subreddit, a Canadian who says they sell their old clothes on eBay wrote “can someone explain the new US DDP [Delivered Duty Paid] rules to me like I’m 5?” Another post says “I sold an item to a buyer in the US, but due to temporary issues with international shipping from my location (Europe), I’m currently unable to send it out.” Another says “How to exclude USA completely from shipping? The tariffs are a complete mess and a joke for small businesses like mine here in Europe.” “I’m a seller who ships over 80% of my products to the US. The post office no longer offers service for US parcels, and I’m completely devastated by this policy change. My income has evaporated in thin air,” another post reads. “As someone that’s been building a sega Saturn and pc engine collection this news broke my heart today.” “I'm in some chat groups with people who bought a ton of things from Japanese marketplaces and this has basically made sure they're out of the game for good,” another says.
There are two ways this can go: One everything becomes much more of a pain in the ass, certain products are not available, the tariff prices and subcharges and processing fees and times end up getting paid transparently by the customer, and everyone becomes mad at this state of affairs. Or two, and unfortunately more likely: The rough edges of this process get smoothed out because big shipping companies and platforms are terrified of upsetting Trump and the burden of dealing with all of this is passed primarily onto overseas sellers who will simply incorporate all of these new fees into the prices of the actual products and will pay the tariff ahead of time, so everything costs more because of the tariffs but the artificial, completely self-inflicted reasons that it costs more to do your hobby become largely invisible and accepted over time. The “normal” state of affairs will be that buying things from small overseas sellers is expensive and slow. But it is worth remembering that none of this is necessary, that it wasn’t always like this, and that an immeasurable number of small businesses and regular people all over the world have been immensely impacted by these tariffs.
All of this means that if you have any hobbies that require buying stuff from another country, your life just got more expensive and more annoying. Back on the AnalogCommunity subreddit, one poster summed it up nicely: “Oh look, voting of [sic] an idiot has real world consequences? Who knew?”
eBay did not respond to a request for comment.
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