Postal visitors into the USA plunged by greater than 80% after the Trump administration ended a tariff exemption for low-cost imports, the United Nations postal company stated Saturday.
The Common Postal Union says it has began rolling out new measures that may assist postal operators around the globe calculate and gather duties, or taxes, after the U.S. eradicated the so-called “de minimis exemption” for lower-value parcels.
Eighty-eight postal operators have instructed the UPU that they’ve suspended some or all postal companies to the USA till an answer is applied with regard to U.S.-bound parcels valued at $800 or much less, which had been the cutoff for imported items to flee customs fees.
“The worldwide community noticed postal visitors to the U.S. come to a near-halt after the implementation of the brand new guidelines on Aug. 29, 2025, which for the primary time positioned the burden of customs obligation assortment and remittance on transportation carriers or U.S. Customs and Border Safety agency-approved certified events,” the UPU stated in a press release.
The UPU stated data exchanged between postal operators by its digital community confirmed visitors from its 192 member international locations — almost all of the world’s international locations — had fallen 81% on Aug. 29, in comparison with per week earlier.
The Bern, Switzerland-based company stated the “main operational disruptions” have occurred as a result of airways and different carriers indicated they weren’t prepared or in a position to gather such duties, and international postal operators had not established a hyperlink to CBP-qualified corporations.
The variety of low-value parcels coming into the U.S. has skyrocketed over the previous decade. Between 2015 and 2025, that determine jumped from 134 million shipments per yr to about 1.4 billion. U.S. Customs and Border Safety was processing greater than 4 million “de minimis” shipments to the U.S. each day, the White Home stated.
Earlier than the measure took impact, the postal union despatched a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to specific considerations about its influence.
The de minimis provision was added to the Tariff Act of 1930 a number of years after the legislation was handed. It was designed to facilitate commerce by eliminating the executive burden of gathering modest import duties on low-cost items.
Purchases that beforehand entered the U.S. while not having to clear customs now require vetting and are topic to their origin nation’s relevant tariff price, which might vary from 10% to 50%.
Whereas the change applies to the merchandise of each nation, U.S. residents won’t must pay duties on incoming items valued at as much as $100, or on as much as $200 value of non-public souvenirs from journeys overseas, in keeping with the White Home.
The UPU stated its members had not been given sufficient time or steering to adjust to the procedures outlined within the govt order President Trump signed on July 30 to remove the duty-free eligibility of low-value items.
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