US Postal Service turns the decision to stop package service from China

The US Post Service Wednesday said it would continue to accept packages from China and Hong Kong, which turned a decision to temporarily stop these deliveries after an order from President Trump came into force that ended duty -free handling of many smaller packages .

Mr. Trump ordered on Saturday that all items leaving China from Tuesday must follow the rules for shipments with higher value. Until the change was packages worth up to $ 800 per day. Pcs.

A Postal Service spokesman said from Wednesday “it continues to accept all international inbound mail and packages from China and Hong Kong positions. USPS and Customs and Border Protection work closely together to implement an effective collection mechanism for the new China tariffs to ensure that the least disruption of the package delivery. “

The United States imports close to four million of such parcels with lower value per day with little or no customs inspection and no tasks collected, with most of them coming from China.

Trump administration and other critics have claimed that giving these packages into the United States has created a cord for Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid and related supplies to enter the United States.

But the duty-free provision of lower value packages, known as the minimis rule, has also been used by many e-commerce companies to bring regular consumer articles from China to the United States without paying duty rates for them.

Private shipping companies, including FedEx and UPS, are also affected by the change in the customs rules as they Move a large part of the packages, drive frequent cargo flights from China to the United States. None of the companies have yet answered questions about how they will handle the new rules.

The minimis determination was included in a wider order of Mr. Trump, who imposed an extra 10 percent duty on all imports from China.

Packages of lower value from China, which were previously duty -free, now face not only 10 percent duties, but also the many complex tariffs on all categories of goods that these shipments have previously skirt completely.

A spokeswoman for the US Post Service did not answer a question of whether the stop was related to the change in the trade rules, referring to a statement that the service had released to announce the suspension.

The US Customs and Border Protection Agency, which is responsible for inspecting the import and assessment of customs, did not immediately respond to a comment request. The White House did not immediately make comments. Trade attorneys said poststop was caused by the executive order.

The rapid roll -out of Mr. Trump’s trade orders left some time for post and customs officials to prepare to investigate so many packages. Mr. Trump said on January 22 that he would set customs duties in Canada and Mexico on February 1st.

He added China to the list on January 23, but did not say he would include a ban on duty -free handling of shipments below $ 800 from one of the three countries. He signed the executive orders on February 1st, including the Minimis ban for all three countries, to come into force only three days later. On Monday, he suspended the orders in Canada and Mexico, but left in place the duty and the minimis rule of China.

Supporters of the minimis have long said that the elimination of the provision would increase the burden of US customs officials. Customs and border protection is also the primary agency responsible for implementing large parts of Trump’s enforcement measures at the border.

In an online event in October, Ralph Carter, Vice President of Legislative Affairs in FedEx, observed that resources were stretched for US customs officials and that a change to the minimis rules could lead to bottlenecks for senders.

“If we convert these millions of shipments from the minimis to formal, informal approvals, we will have the serious security chain backups because there is simply no resources to control it,” he said. “And then it will affect all importers, not just importers of the minimis.”

DHL, a global logistics company, said on Monday that the use of tariffs for lower -value shipments in the United States would require it to assess how it processes packages. The company said it was in discussions with US customs officials.

Neil Saunders, CEO of Globaldata Retail, a research and consulting firm, said the decision to stop international packages from China and Hong Kong would have its greatest influence on marketplaces such as Shein, Temu and to some extent Amazon.

“It’s the ones who put millions of packages in the system every week,” Mr. Saunders in an interview. “This route has now been cut off at least temporarily.”

Shein and Temu are two of the largest e-commerce companies connecting low costs Chinese factories to millions of US households. Shein refused to comment on the new rules on small packages on Tuesday, while Temu has not yet answered questions sent on Monday. Also, Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Raising the duty -free minimum has enabled millions of US households to buy cheap goods from China. But American manufacturers in sectors such as textiles and clothing have claimed that the import of small packages has undermined their ability to remain in business.

The rapid extension of e-commerce has for years constituted a dilemma for customs and border protection. Customs officials already began to be overwhelmed by small e-commerce packages in 2016, when they persuaded Congress and the Obama administration to raise the minimum value of customs inspection and customs collection to $ 800, from $ 200.

But with the increase in the duty -free limit, the number of duty -free packages has risen ten times since 2016. Congress has discussed the past year how to change the rule of duty -free packages.

Suggestions in Congress had tended to focus on matching China’s policy that discourages the minimis imports. China limits the minimis imports to a few kinds of products, closely controls what is imported and sets very low limits on the value of each package – for many products, less than $ 100.

The end of the American de Minimis rule for goods from China can particularly complicate the US import of clothing. US law prevents the import of any goods produced with forced labor in Xinjiang, a region of northwestern China, where Beijing has ordered a far -reaching crash on Uymurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities.

The legislation requires importers to prove that goods with any content from Xinjiang did not engage forced labor – a tough legal standard to meet because China does not allow independent work control there. And Xinjiang produces much of China’s cotton.

De Minimis imports these rules. The suspension of the minimis rules can make it more difficult for companies to send such goods from China.

Traditional retailers with stores that Gap send their merchandise in bulk from abroad and pay tariffs on it and must already comply with the legislation against forced labor. So they can be affected much less by the rule change than e-commerce companies.

Peter Eavis contributed with reporting.