The US will suspend duty-free treatment for imported parcels valued at $800 or less starting August 29th. Smaller parcels will then be subject to all applicable taxes and fees.
According to the United Nations Universal Postal Union on the 26th, 25 of its member countries have suspended parcel shipments to the US due to the particularly heightened uncertainty surrounding shipping services under the new US regulations.
On the 26th, local time, Russian Post announced that it would suspend the acceptance of merchandise mail to the US starting August 26th due to tariff issues. Regular mail services will remain unaffected.
Bulgaria Post issued a statement on the 26th announcing that it would suspend all shipments to the US. The statement cited changes to the US government’s customs clearance procedures for imported goods as the reason for the suspension. Bulgaria Post also noted that the US has tightened its requirements for electronic pre-declaration data for customs declarations, which must be sent to US postal operators.
South Korea’s postal service announced on the 26th that it had suspended Express Mail Service (EMS) package deliveries to the United States. South Korean users can only ship packages to the US via United Parcel Service (UPS), with the recipients responsible for the tariffs.
In addition, postal agencies in Europe, including France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland, and Denmark, as well as Australia, India, Japan, Thailand, and Singapore, have also announced suspensions of package deliveries to the US in recent days.
National Public Radio recently cited an analysis report released by the Cato Institute, a US think tank, stating that the US government’s elimination of duty-free treatment for small imported packages will severely harm low-income Americans, further strain logistics and transportation companies, and face serious implementation challenges.