A per-package charge would have the obvious loophole that you could put many small packages inside a bigger package, pay only once, and then split it up again t

A per-package charge would have the obvious loophole that you could put many small packages inside a bigger package, pay only once, and then split it up again to send the contents onward to individual recipients. This is already done to save on postage. The per-item charge encourages making even bigger bundles exceeding the de minimis threshold, at which point the importer can pay the regular tariff. So hobbyists will still be able to get small amounts of cheap components, but they will be shipped in bulk and tariffed.