- Previously, most imported goods with a value of US$800 or less were exempt from tariffs. That rule, known as the de minimis exemption, is set to end on Friday - though letters or personal gifts worth less than US$100 won’t be affected, postal operators said.
- A number of national mail companies from countries such as New Zealand, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and India have responded by temporarily suspending some mail services to the US.
- For US consumers, this could mean delays in receiving packages - which may now also incur tariffs of US$80 or more.
What are the changes?
De minimis, which in Latin means something too small or insignificant to be considered, was passed by the US Congress in the 1930s and amended over the years.
Under the Obama Administration, the de minimis exemption was raised from US$200 to US$800 - where it remained until this year.
The exemption allowed companies to save tens of billions of dollars in fees on cheap imports, most of which came from China - though Etsy sellers and family run businesses also benefitted from the rule.
The Trump Administration ended the exception for China and Hong Kong in May. In an executive order signed last month, Trump extended the decision to all countries starting on August 29, meaning that most low-value parcels will also be charged tariffs.
Which countries are affected?
PostEurop, an association that represents 53 European postal operators, said that with just days left until the new rules go into effect, many issues remain.
“Critical issues and processes, such as customs duties collection, the data to be collected, and the interaction with the US Customs and Border Protection, are not yet clearly defined,” the group said in a statement last week.
“Select technical details were only released on August 15, leaving an extremely short time frame to prepare.”
“Everybody hopes that there will be a solution soon,” Botond Szebeny, PostEurop’s secretary general, said.
“It is not the idea to have a permanent embargo.”
He said he and member organisations are hoping for more time to implement the changes, as well as more clarity on the procedures, which now include requiring that duties be paid before the items arrive in the US.
So far, national mail services in a number of European countries have said they are pausing at least some of their deliveries until they have figured out how to deal with the new rules.
In Germany, Deutsche Post and DHL Parcel Germany said that they were temporarily suspending business customer parcels to the US - though shipments via DHL Express are not affected.
Postal operators in more than a dozen other European countries have also announced pauses to some of their services.
Belgium’s Postal Service suspended shipments containing merchandise starting yesterday, while Spain’s Correos said that it will not accept packages worth US$800 or less beginning tomorrow.
France’s La Poste said in a statement that unless a solution is reached before the implementation date, it and other European postal services “may be forced to temporarily suspend the shipment of items containing goods to the United States of America via postal networks”.
Britain’s Royal Mail said it plans to withdraw its services for a day or two this week, before rolling out a system to deal with the requirements.
In a statement yesterday, it said the mail service has been “working hard with US authorities and international partners to adapt our services to meet the new US de minimis requirements”.
India’s Department of Posts announced that it would temporarily stop mail service to the US from today, with only items not affected by the tariffs, such as letters, documents and gifts worth less than US$100 allowed.
US Customs and Border Protection did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
What will it mean for consumers?
The extra charges on a package will depend on the methodology used to calculate it, according to the executive order. The duty rate will either match the level of tariff the US has imposed on the country of origin, or a specific duty based on the following:
- For countries with a tariff rate of 15% or less, such as Britain, each package will incur an additional charge of US$80.
- Parcels originating from countries with US tariffs of between 16 and 25% will incur an additional US$160.
- Countries with a tariff rate of more than 25% will face an extra US$200.
The new rules could also put the onus on senders to pay import duties before the shipment leaves for the US, according to Belgium’s bpost.
It said in a statement the changes mean “import duties for all shipments with goods must be prepaid, regardless of value”.
Letters, documents and gifts under US$100 are exempt - though DHL said in a statement that any parcel declared as a gift “will be subject to even stricter controls than before to prevent the misuse of private gift shipments for sending commercial goods”.
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