The United States Postal Service made a turn on Wednesday and said it will continue to accept packages from the continent China and Hong Kong, changing a decision to temporarily stop those shipments after an order from President Trump that ended task treatment of much smaller parcels.
Prohibition and overthrow of the postal service just hours later show how important parts of global distribution systems are accumulating with sudden changes in American trade policy, planting confusion between businesses and potentially delayed deliveries.
On Saturday, Mr. Trump ordered that all Chinese imports would be subject to tariffs starting Tuesday. Until the change, parcels of up to $ 800 were not required to include detailed information about their content and were not subject to taxes. This is because they were allowed to benefit from a provision, known as the exception de minimis, that many e -commerce companies have used to send goods to the United States from China without having to pay taxes on them.
Since Wednesday, the Postal Service “will continue to accept all international incoming posts and packages from China and Hong Kong’s posts,” said a service spokesman. “USPS and Customs and Border Protection are working closely together to implement an efficient collection mechanism for China’s new tariffs to ensure the smallest interruption to distribute packages. “
The United States imports about four million of these parcels of lower value a day, most of them from China, with little or no customs inspection and no tasks collected.
The Trump administration and other critics have claimed that allowing these packages in the United States have created a fenthan channel, a synthetic opioid and material needed to make the medicine. But many e -commerce companies have used the de minimis rule to bring regular consumer items from China to the United States without paying fees for them.
Private transport companies including FedEx and UPS are also affected by the change of customs rules as they Bring millions of packages from China to the United States to their authorized flights, separated from the postal service.
Unlike the postal service, FedEx did not stop the treatment of shipments from China.
FedEx said in a statement that it was focused on working with customers “to adapt to the essential changes coming from the latest tariff notifications”, and that its cleaning and compliance experts were working around the clock to continue enabling of deliveries.
“We can confirm that deliveries continue to move through our network between JSC and China as we adapt to compliance changes,” the company said, adding that this includes the deliveries that were previously under the exclusion of De Minimis.
UPS did not give a comment.
The de minimis provision was included in a wider order by Mr. Trump who imposed an additional 10 percent fee for all imports from China. On Tuesday, China raised a dispute in the World Trade Organization, claiming the tariffs went against the rules of global trade.
Lower value parcels from China now face not only 10 percent, but also many complex tariffs for each category of goods they had previously skipped.
The US Customs and Border Protection Agency, which is responsible for inspecting imports and evaluating tariffs, did not respond to a comment request. The White House did not comment.
Trade lawyers said the postal stop was caused by the order of Mr. Trump, who demanded that all mail shipments be sent as what is called “official entry”, with more documentation and tariffs.
The rapid participation of Mr. Trump’s trade orders left little time for postal and customs officials to prepare to consider so many packages. Mr. Trump said on January 22 that he would impose tariffs in Canada and Mexico on February 1.
He added China to the list on January 23, but did not say then that he would include a ban on treating without duty below $ 800 by any of the three countries. He signed the executive orders on February 1, including detention de minimis for all three countries, to enter into force only three days later. On Monday, he suspended orders in Canada and Mexico, but left the de minimis rule and rule for China.
Representative Linda T. Sánchez, a Democrat of California, said he had two -party support in Congress to address China’s exploitation for US trade policy, including de minimis, but that the President’s election to bypass Congress had left “USPS and customs for adjusted the mess he created. ”
“This is another example of chaos president Trump continues to create,” she said. “He likes to sign executive orders to show the cameras, but fails to take into account their long -term implications or how they will be done.”
Devilis supporters have long said the elimination of the provision will increase the burden on US customs officials. Customs and border protection is also the main agency responsible for carrying out most of Mr. Trump’s implementation actions at the border.
At an online event in October, Ralph Carter, Vice President of FedEx Regulatory Affairs, observed that sources were extended to US customs officials and that a change in de minimis rules could lead to obstacles for carriers.
“If we turn these millions of shipments from De Minimis into official, informal cleaning, we will have serious copies of the supply chain because there are simply no resources to manage it,” he said. “And so it will affect all importers, not just de minimis importers.”
DHL, a global logistics company, said on Monday that applying tariffs for lower value deliveries in the United States would require it to evaluate how she processed the packages. The company said it was in discussions with US customs officials.
John Pickel, senior director of international policy of supply chain at the National Council of Foreign Trade, a trade group lobbied in favor of holding De Minimis, said the transportation method was used to move a wide variety of products, including inputs for US factories.
“We’re not just talking about $ 5 dresses and other types of clothing,” he said. “We’re talking about inputs that strengthen US production and really move the American economy.”
Shein and Temu are two of the largest e -commerce companies connecting low -cost Chinese factories with millions of American families. Shein refused Tuesday to comment on new rules for small packages, while Temu did not answer questions sent on Monday. Amazon also did not respond immediately to a comment request.
The rapid expansion of e -commerce has for years presented a dilemma for customs and border protection. Customs officials had already begun to be overloaded by small email parcels in 2016, when they persuaded the Congress and Obama administration to increase the minimum value for customs inspection and tariff collection to $ 200, from $ 200.
Increasing the minimum without task allowed millions of US families to buy low -cost goods from China. But US manufacturers in sectors such as textiles and clothing have claimed that imports of small parcels undermined their ability to stay in business.
As the border increases, the number of tasked parcels has increased tenfold since 2016.
Congress proposals tended to focus on the matching of China’s policies, which limits de minimis imports to several types of products, closely controls what is imported and places very low boundaries to each package – for many products, less than $ 100.
It remains to be seen whether Mr. Trump strikes a deal with Chinese officials who can stop the measure.
The end of American rule de minimis for goods from China can particularly complicate American clothing imports. American law prohibits the import of any commodity produced by forced labor in Xinjiang, a region of northwestern China, where Beijing has ordered a wide blow to Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities.
The law requires importers to prove that goods with any content from Xinjiang did not include forced labor – a difficult legal standard to meet because China does not allow independent work inspections there. And Xinjiang produces most of China’s cotton.
Imports de minimis passed those rules. Suspension can make it harder for companies to send such goods from China.
Traditional retailers with stores, like GAP, send their goods by abroad, submit more documentation of government and pay fees. So they can be affected much less by changing the rule than emails.