The US Postal Service announced it would temporarily suspend international mail from China and Hong Kong, then retracted the announcement a few hours later. What's the problem?
On February 4, 2025 local time, the United States Postal Service (USPS),
International inbound mail and packages from China and Hong Kong Posts - Newsroom - About.usps.com
https://about.usps.com/newsroom/service-alerts/international/suspension-of-inbound-parcels-from-china-and-hong-kong.htm
USPS says it will resume accepting inbound packages from China, Hong Kong
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/05/usps-says-it-will-resume-accepting-inbound-packages-from-china-hong-kong.html
Chaos and confusion as USPS halts, then resumes parcels from China - Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/02/americans-likely-to-pay-more-wait-longer-for-online-orders-from-china/
On February 4th local time, the USPS announced that it would temporarily suspend the acceptance of international mail and packages from China and Hong Kong. This is believed to be due to the enforcement of the executive order on '10% additional tariffs on China' signed by President Donald Trump.
President Trump signs executive order to impose additional tariffs on China, Canada, and Mexico and end tariff exemptions for low-cost imports, potentially affecting low-cost online shopping apps such as Alibaba, SHEIN, and Temu - GIGAZINE
The executive order signed by President Trump to impose additional tariffs on China, Canada, and Mexico also includes provisions to abolish the 'de minimis exemption,' which prevents tariffs from being collected on cheap products imported from overseas. In some cases, the 'costs spent on collecting tariffs' for cheap products imported from overseas exceed the 'tax revenue that can be collected as tariffs.' To avoid this, de minimis exemptions prevent tariffs from being collected on cheap products.
Chinese mail-order apps such as SHEIN, Temu, and AliExpress sell products at low prices by exporting small-value cargo that falls under the de minimis exemption directly from China to customers. According to CBP estimates , the de minimis exemption applied to cargo imported by the United States from around the world in January to September 2024 is equivalent to approximately $48 billion (approximately 7.5 trillion yen). In addition, the total amount of 'small-value cargo that falls under the de minimis exemption' imported into the United States is expected to reach 1.4 billion units in 2024, of which more than 30% is likely to be small-value cargo from Temu and SHEIN.
According to Ying Lam, an analyst at research firm Morningstar , the transport of 'small-value packages that qualify for the de minimis exemption' to the United States places a heavy burden on the USPS, making it 'difficult and time-consuming to check all packages.' With President Trump's executive order coming into effect and abolishing the de minimis exemption for small-value packages from China, the USPS's workload will increase even more, which is likely why the agency announced that it would suspend the acceptance of packages.
WIRED reported that the e-commerce industry was thrown into chaos when the USPS suspended accepting international mail and packages from China and Hong Kong. According to sources, several trucks were turned away at the US border, and the truck drivers were only allowed to enter the US if they agreed to dispose of all packages from China. A person who provided information to WIRED said, 'Sorting through thousands of packages to find cargo from China was a pain, but CBP was keen to monitor all trucks.'
However, hours after announcing the suspension, USPS announced that it would continue to accept international mail and packages from China and Hong Kong. 'USPS and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are working closely together to implement efficient collection mechanisms for the new tariffs on China to minimize impacts to package delivery,' the USPS said in a statement.
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