Geline Salac

25 countries suspend postal services to US over tariffs: UN

Article (news)

PACKAGES 

Agence France-Presse

<p>GENEVA, Switzerland - At least 25 countries have decided to suspend package deliveries to the United States, as concern grows over the impact of President Donald Trump&#x27;s looming tariffs, a UN body said Tuesday.</p><p>The Trump administration said late last month that it will abolish a tax exemption on small packages entering the United States from August 29.</p><p>The move has sparked a flurry of announcements from postal services, including in France, Britain, Germany, Italy, India, Australia and Japan, that most US-bound packages would no longer be accepted.</p><p>The United Nations&#x27; Universal Postal Union said it had already been advised by 25 member countries that their postal operators &quot;have suspended their outbound postal services to the US, citing uncertainties specifically related to transit services&quot;.</p><p>It said the suspensions will remain in place until there is more clarity on how US authorities plan to implement the announced measures.</p><p>The UPU did not provide a list of postal services it had heard from.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>- &#x27;Considerable operational changes&#x27; -</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>The organization, which was established in 1874 and counts 192 member states, warned that the new US measures would &quot;entail considerable operational changes for postal operators around the world&quot;.</p><p>From Friday, the UPU said the measures would require postal carriers delivering packages to the United States &quot;to collect customs duties from senders in advance&quot;, on behalf of the US Customs and Border Protection agency.</p><p>India&#x27;s communications ministry said at the weekend that Trump&#x27;s executive order issued last month requires transport carriers or other &quot;qualified parties&quot; approved by US authorities to collect and remit the tariff duties.</p><p>But &quot;several critical processes relating to the designation of &#x27;qualified parties&#x27; and mechanisms for duty collection and remittance remain undefined,&quot; it said in a statement.</p><p>Under the new US measures, individual customers will still be able to send documents and items worth up to $100 as presents to the country without being taxed.</p><p>But anything above that value is expected to be hit with the same tariff rates applied to other imports from the sending country.</p><p>That means 15 percent for countries in the European Union and 50 percent for India.</p><p>And Germany&#x27;s postal service DHL warned last week that even exempted items would be subject to extra checks to prevent the service being used for commercial goods.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>- &#x27;Sustainable solutions&#x27; -</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>The UPU stressed that it was &quot;taking all possible measures to prepare its member countries for the impacts (the new measures) may have on their postal flows&quot;.</p><p>UPU chief Masahiko Metoki had sent a letter to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday to convey member countries&#x27; concern regarding the operational disruptions, it said.</p><p>Pointing to the short implementation timeline and voicing particular concern over the impact on the delivery of e-commerce items, the union said it was &quot;working with the relevant US authorities to ensure that information on the operational requirements of the measures is communicated effectively to other member countries&quot;.</p><p>In parallel, it said it was working with &quot;relevant postal stakeholders&quot; to help find sustainable solutions, including one initiative aimed at developing a system to facilitate duty collection and remittance across its network.</p><div><br/></div><p>nl/rjm/gv</p><p>© Agence France-Presse</p><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AlCtUkobx70?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-katMjy6LCM?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/H7uTYmZS0mM?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><div><br id="isPasted"/><br/></div>

<p>At least 25 countries have decided to suspend package deliveries to the United States, as concern grows over the impact of President Donald Trump's looming tariffs, a UN body said Tuesday.</p>

At least 25 countries have decided to suspend package deliveries to the United States, as concern grows over the impact of President Donald Trump's looming tariffs, a UN body said Tuesday.