The US Postal Service has reversed yesterday’s shock choice to cease accepting inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong. It would proceed to simply accept worldwide shipments from the 2 international locations, although it warns of “disruption” to deliveries.
USPS beforehand introduced that it was briefly halting all packages shipped from China and Hong Kong. The choice got here within the wake of President Donald Trump’s government order revoking the de minimis exemption for shipments from China. It signifies that parcels valued under $800 at the moment are eligible for US import duties and import taxes, together with the brand new 10 % tariff utilized to all items from China.
In an announcement, USPS says it’s going to “proceed accepting all worldwide inbound mail and packages from China and Hong Kong Posts.” The service additionally notes that it’s working intently with US Customs and Border Safety to “implement an environment friendly assortment mechanism for the brand new China tariffs to make sure the least disruption to bundle supply.”
Neither UPS nor FedEx had introduced restrictions on shipments from China within the wake of the brand new government order, however each courier and delivery firm should develop new processes to examine a big quantity of Chinese language shipments and acquire obligation and tariffs. Delays are probably, as are elevated prices for delivery, however the full influence of the change stays unclear.
There have been over 1.3 billion parcels shipped into the US beneath the de minimis exemption in 2024, although not all from China, so the size of the issue is big. The loophole was fashionable with e-commerce corporations together with Temu, Shein, and Amazon, permitting them to ship low-cost items on to shoppers whereas avoiding import duties.
At present the European Fee renewed requires the EU to implement its personal customs reform that might take away its duty-free exemption for packages valued under €150, and additional steered making use of a dealing with payment for e-commerce shipments imported on to shoppers as a approach of recouping the prices of inspecting and processing the parcels.
