The US Postal Service opened up on Wednesday, saying it will continue to accept packages from mainland China and Hong Kong, and decides to temporarily suspend delivery of those after an order by President Trump that has ended many small tax-free procedures overturning the plot.
The suspension and reversal of postal services a few hours later is a key part of the global delivery system tackling a sudden change in US trade policy, addressing disruption between businesses and potentially slowing down freight It shows that you are.
On Saturday, Trump ordered that all Chinese imports be subject to tariffs from Tuesday. Until the change, parcels worth up to $800 did not need to include any details about their contents and were not subject to taxation. That's because they were allowed to take advantage of the provision known as the De Minimis exception, and because many e-commerce companies used it to send goods from China to the US without paying taxes.
As of Wednesday, the post office “continues to accept all international inbound emails and packages from China and Hong Kong Posts,” a service spokesperson said. “USPS, customs and border protection are working closely to implement the new China's efficient collection mechanism to ensure minimal disruption in package delivery.”
The US imports nearly 4 million of these low-value parcels in a day, most of which are imported from China, with little or no customs inspections and no duties are collected.
The Trump administration and other critics argue that making these packages available to the US created conduits of fentanyl, synthetic opioids and the materials needed to make drugs. However, many e-commerce companies have used the De Minimis rule to bring regular consumer items from China to the US without paying tariffs on them.
Private shipping companies, including FedEx and UPS, will also be affected by changes to customs regulations. This is because it brings millions of packages from China to the US on its own charter flights, apart from the postal service.
Unlike postal services, FedEx did not stop processing delivery from China.
In a statement, FedEx focuses on working with customers “to adapt to substantial changes arising from recent tariff announcements,” and its clearance and compliance experts continue to make shipments possible. He said he worked around the clock.
“As we adapt to compliance changes, we can see that shipments continue to move through the network between the US and China,” the company said, which previously under the de Minis exemption. It added that shipments are included.
UPS did not provide a comment.
De Minimis's provisions were included in more widespread orders by Trump, who imposed 10 % of the imports from China. On Tuesday, China filed a dispute with the World Trade Organization, claiming that tariffs were against the World Trade Rules.
Low value plots from China now face not only 10% tariffs, but also many complicated tariffs on all categories of goods that have been previously skirted.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency, which is responsible for inspecting imports and assessing customs duties, did not respond to a request for comment. The White House did not provide comment.
Trade lawyers said the postal halt was caused by Trump's order. This required that all postal delivery from China be sent as what is called “official entries” with more documents and fees.
The quick development of Trump's trade order was hardly time for post offices and customs officials to scrutinize so many packages. Mr. Trump said on January 22 that he would put a tariff on Canada and Mexico on February 1.
He added China to the list on January 23, but did not say that any of the three countries would ban the tax exemption processing of less than $ 800. He signed an administrative order on February 1, including the ban on De Minimis in all three countries, to be effective just three days later. On Monday, he suspended orders in Canada and Mexico, but left Chinese tariffs and de Minimis rules in place.
California Democratic leader Linda T. Sanchez said that Congress has bipartisan support to address China's exploitation of US trade policies, including de Minis, but the president's choice to bypass Congress was “a ” “The USPS and Habits have scrambled to fix the confusion.” He created it. ”
“This is yet another example of the chaotic president that President Trump continues to create,” she said. “He loves to sign executive orders to show off for the camera, but he doesn't take into consideration their long-term meaning or how they will be done.”
De Minimis supporters have long stated that eliminating the rules will increase the burden on US customs staff. Customs and border security are also the main institutions responsible for implementing many of Trump's enforcement actions at the border.
At the online event in October, Ralph Carter, Vice President of Fedex, has a growing resource for customs employees in the United States, and changing the deminism rules may lead to the shipper's bottleneck. did.
“If you convert these millions of shipments from de minimis to formal unofficial clearance, there is no resources to manage it, so there is a serious supply chain backup,” he said. “And it will affect not only Deminimi importers but also all impedors.”
Global logistics company DHL said on Monday that applying tariffs on low-value cargo to the US would require an assessment of how the package is processed. The company said it is in discussions with US customs officials.
John Pickel, senior director of International Supply Chain Policy at the National Council of Foreign Trade, is a trade group that lobbyed in favor of maintaining a minimum, offering a range of products including inputs from US factories. He said that a shipping method was used to move. .
“We're not just talking about $5 dresses or other types of clothing,” he said. “We're talking about the inputs that will really drive the US production and drive the US economy.”
Shein and Temu are the largest e -commerce companies that connect low -cost Chinese factories to millions of American households. Shein declined to comment on the new rules for the small package on Tuesday, but Temu has not responded to questions sent on Monday. Also, Amazon did not respond immediately to the comment request.
The rapid expansion of e -commerce has brought customs and border security dilemma for many years. Customs officials had already begun to overwhelm by a small e -commerce parcel in 2016 when the Congress and the Obama administration persuaded the minimum value of customs tests and tariff collection from $ 200 to $ 800.
By raising a minimum tax-free minimum, millions of American households have been able to purchase low-cost products from China. However, US manufacturers in sectors such as textiles and apparel have argued that importing small plots undermines their ability to remain in business.
With increasing restrictions, the number of tax-free plots has risen ten times since 2016. Congress has discussed how to change the rules of duty -free parcels for the past year.
The proposals in Congress tended to focus on China's policy cohesion. China's policy limits imports to several types of products, carefully checks imports, and sets very low limits on the value of each parcel. .
It remains to be seen whether Trump has signed a contract with Chinese officials who can suspend the measure.
The end of the US minimum rules for goods from China can complicate the import of American clothing, especially in the United States. American law prohibits the import of forced labor in the new Jiang, the northwestern region of China, which has ordered a widespread repression of Uyghurs and other Muslims. .
The law requires importers to prove that products containing new jiang content are not involved in forced labor. This is a strict legal standard to meet as China does not allow independent labor inspections there. Xinjiang produces a lot of Chinese cotton.
De Minimis ran through these rules. This suspension could make it difficult for businesses to ship such products from China.
Traditional retailers with stores such as Gap will ship large quantities of goods from overseas, submit more documents to the government and pay customs duties. Therefore, they may be less affected by rules changes than e-commerce companies.
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