Whiplash over USPS -Pause on China -Submissions, Explained

• In a matter of hours, USPS said it was suspended and then resumed acceptance of packages from China and Hong Kong.
• The head -spinning feature comes as the carrier develops a way of collecting tariffs on small packages.
• Packages worth less than $ 800 were previously exempt from customs, but Trump has completed this policy.

Americans on the East Coast woke up to shipment of chaos on Wednesday morning. The US Post Service no longer accepted packages from China and Hong Kong.

When they woke up on the west coast, USPS said the suspension had been lifted.

Whiplash from the approximately 12-hour break raised new questions about how exactly the world’s scattered shipping apparatus would navigate two major changes: the implementation of President Donald Trump’s new tariffs against China and the end of a policy used by Shein long And Temu to avoid US Import Fees.

When the market responded to the suspension in trade overnight, USPS said it was working to “implement an effective collection mechanism for the new China tariffs to ensure that the least disruption of the package delivery.”

The challenge that is likely to face USPS and other shipping companies arises from the fact that Usually, companies are those who pay any tariffs for the products they bring in from abroad, whose costs are often rolled into the final price for final consumers.

Small packages (worth less than $ 800) were generally excluded from import fees according to a policy known as the minimis exemption and it made it convenient for the US postal service to accept e-commerce shipments from its Chinese counterpart, China Post, Together with postcards, letters and other traditional mail for direct delivery to US addresses.

Meanwhile, companies like Shein, Temu and others quickly figured out that they could bypass existing US tariffs by sending directly from China to US customers, which led to the minimis exemption from being called a logging hole.

A Congress Report said That over 60% of all the minimis shipments to the United States in 2021 came from China and that Temu and Shein were “probably responsible” for about a third of these small shipments to the United States by 2022.

In contrast, the report estimated that GAP paid approx. $ 700 million in import duties in 2022, and H&M paid $ 205 million, while Temu and Shein each paid $ 0.

Trump’s new customs policy has largely closed that loophole. The policy is now creating fresh uncertainties for both businesses and consumers in a Hyperconnected Global Marketplace.

Initially, The question of how to collect this fee in a direct to consumer transaction has not yet been resolved, and it is not yet clear how companies and their customers will respond to any resulting cost increases.

Plus, if orders are directed through another channel or carrier, it is unclear how the change in packing volumes can affect fulfillment prices or shipping times.

A company that already adapts is Yun Express, a Chinese cross -border logistics company.

The company Sent Instructions for customers who advise them on the new fees and require senders to provide details of each package, including item name, value, quantity, destination country code and weight.

Yun Express also said it will begin to charge a 30% prepayment for shipments from China to the US, which will be adjusted and repaid based on actual fees charged at the entrance port.

Global Data Retail analyst Neil Saunders said in a note that there is likely to be a strong demand for Chinese products despite customs or other costs.

“While the era of friction-free e-commerce between the US and China is ending, this does not signalize the death of marketplaces like Shein and Temu,” he said. “Even if prices rise, both remain relatively cheap, which taps into the continued consumer’s desire for low prices.”