At least 25 countries have decided to suspend parcel deliveries to the United States amid growing concerns about the impact of tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump, a United Nations agency announced Tuesday.
The Trump administration announced late last month that it would eliminate the tax exemption for small parcels entering the United States, effective August 29.
The decision prompted a wave of announcements from postal services, including those in France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, India, Australia, and Japan, indicating that most parcels destined for the United States would no longer be accepted.
The United Nations Universal Postal Union announced it had already received notifications from 25 member countries indicating that their postal companies had “suspended outgoing mail services to the United States, citing specific concerns related to transportation services.”
She added that the suspension would remain in effect until U.S. authorities clearly specify how they plan to implement the announced measures.
The UPU did not provide a list of postal services that received responses.
‘Considerable operational changes’
The organization, founded in 1874 and comprising 192 member countries, warned that the new US measures “will result in significant operational changes for postal operators worldwide.”
On Friday, the UPU announced that the measures will require postal companies delivering parcels to the United States to “collect customs duties from senders” on behalf of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency.
India’s Ministry of Telecommunications announced this weekend that Trump’s executive order issued last month requires carriers or other “qualified parties” approved by U.S. authorities to collect and remit customs duties.
However, “many critical processes related to the identification of ‘qualified parties’ and the mechanisms for collecting and remitting duties remain undefined,” according to a statement.
Under the new US measures, individuals will still be able to send documents and gifts worth up to $100 to the country without being taxed.
However, any goods exceeding this value would be subject to the same customs duties as those applied to other imports from the country of origin.
This represents 15% for EU countries and 50% for India.
Last week, German postal service DHL warned that even duty-free goods would be subject to additional checks to prevent the use of its services for commercial goods.
‘Sustainable solutions’
The UPU stressed that it was “taking all possible measures to prepare its member countries for the impacts (the new measures) may have on their postal flows”.
UPU chief Masahiko Metoki had sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday to convey member countries’ concern regarding the operational disruptions, it said.
Pointing to the short implementation timeline and voicing particular concern over the impact on the delivery of e-commerce items, the union said it was “working with the relevant U.S. authorities to ensure that information on the operational requirements of the measures is communicated effectively to other member countries”.
In parallel, it said it was working with “relevant postal stakeholders” to help find sustainable solutions, including one initiative aimed at developing a system to facilitate duty collection and remittance across its network.
Full list of countries suspending U.S. parcel shipments
United Kingdom
Australia
Austria
Belgium
China
Czechia
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Russia
Singapore
South Korea
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Thailand