USPS backtracks, will accept parcels from China after all

The US Postal Service has reversed yesterday’s surprise decision to stop accepting inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong. It will continue to accept international shipments from the two countries, though it warns of “disruption” to deliveries.

USPS previously announced that it was temporarily halting all packages shipped from China and Hong Kong. The decision came in the wake of President Donald Trump’s executive order revoking the de minimis exemption for shipments from China. It means that parcels valued below $800 are now eligible for US import duties and import taxes, including the new 10 percent tariff applied to all goods from China.

In a statement, USPS says it will “continue accepting all international inbound mail and packages from China and Hong Kong Posts.” The service also notes that it is working closely with US Customs and Border Protection to “implement an efficient collection mechanism for the new China tariffs to ensure the least disruption to package delivery.”

Neither UPS nor FedEx had announced restrictions on shipments from China in the wake of the new executive order, but every courier and shipping company will have to develop new processes to inspect a large volume of Chinese shipments and collect duty and tariffs. Delays are likely, as are increased costs for shipping, but the full impact of the change remains unclear.

There were over 1.3 billion parcels shipped into the US under the de minimis exemption in 2024, though not all from China, so the scale of the problem is enormous. The loophole was popular with e-commerce companies including Temu, Shein, and Amazon, allowing them to ship cheap goods directly to consumers while avoiding import duties.

Today the European Commission renewed calls for the EU to implement its own customs reform that would remove its duty-free exemption for packages valued below €150, and further suggested applying a handling fee for e-commerce shipments imported directly to consumers as a way of recouping the costs of inspecting and processing the parcels.