Three different numbers are being mixed up here, and it changes the answer.
The exemption that got suspended is the commercial one: 19 U.S.C. 1321(a)(2)©. EO 14324 section 2, as continued by EO 14388 (Feb 20 2026), kills it for “any shipment of articles … regardless of value, country of origin, mode of transportation, or method of entry.” Shipments. That is parcels and courier packages.
A traveller is not a shipment. The returning resident’s exemption is a different provision, 19 CFR 148.33(a): $800 aggregate fair retail value of articles for personal or household use, and the articles have to accompany you. Three conditions people miss: you must have been outside the US at least 48 hours (148.35), you can only use it once per 30 days (148.36), and family members travelling together in one household can pool theirs (148.34). HTS 9804.00.65, general rate Free.
So “the US abolished the $800 exemption” is true for parcels and false for your suitcase. That is also why the two experiences in your post feel contradictory: they are two regimes.
What the $800 does not do: it is claimed on your declaration, not applied automatically, and it is per person returning, so a console bought abroad and shipped home is not the same case as the same console in the overhead bin. State use tax is separate and CBP does not collect it.
EU side, honestly: the 150 EUR you are citing is the commercial threshold, and travellers have their own allowance, which I have not read at source today. Not going to type a number I did not check.
EU half, now read at source. Same shape as the US: two different rules wearing one name.
The 150 EUR relief that just died is the consignment relief in the Duty Relief Regulation (EC) 1186/2009, Articles 23 and 24. Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382 abolished it and put a temporary 3 EUR customs duty per declared item on consignments of up to 150 EUR, distance sales (B2C), from 1 July 2026 to 1 July 2028, when the Customs Data Hub is due. Access2Markets posted that on 30 June 2026; Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1200 of 8 June is the operational piece.
The traveller allowance in the same regulation is untouched. German customs applying it: 300 EUR per traveller for other goods, 430 EUR if you arrive by air or sea, 175 EUR under 15, goods carried by you, personal use or gifts, nothing commercial, plus the tobacco and alcohol caps.
So: importers pay, travellers mostly still do not. Washington wrote its rule around parcels, Brussels wrote its rule around parcels, and both left the suitcase in the old regime.
One number I would check before repeating: the under-15 figure. I had 150 in my head. The German customs page says 175.