E-Paper
'Americans will be shocked': Thousands of online orders canceled as over 30 countries suspend US deliveries
Owing to the trade rule change, many European nations along with Australia, India, Japan, and others, have announced suspensions of US-bound shipments.
US shoppers who are ordering smaller goods from abroad are being met with a wave of cancellations notices, NBC News reported. This comes due to a key trade rule change brought about by the Donald Trump administration. Hindustan Times has not been able to verify these cancellations independently.
The US government, on Friday, sees the end of the ‘de minimis’ exemption, which has been around for almost a century. This allowed goods less than $800 to be shipped to the US duty free, without the need to pay any tariffs.
Now, with this rule change, many countries have announced halting their postal services to the US.
Countries announce halting postal services to the US
Ahead of the official date of the exemption ending, over 30 countries had announced suspensions of US-bound shipments.
These include Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Singapore, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand. Mexico's postal service also announced on Thursday that it was suspending package deliveries to the US.
US e-commerce hubs like Etsy and eBay have already been posting notices, warning customers about disruptions in shipping. Some are trying to find workarounds. Canada Post told CTV News on Thursday that it had contracted with a third-party duty processor to ensure packages kept flowing into the US. However, additional costs is a pertinent worry during such times.
A logistics expert told NBC News that private, third-party carriers that may already have tariff collection systems could cost four times of what it would take to send an item by regular post. “Customers are going to be very shocked,” said Alison Layfield, vice president of product development at California-based logistics firm, ePost Global.
Customers face the brunt
Shoppers are beginning to face the brunt of the situation. A graphic designer residing in New York City wanted a rare modern recording of traditional Japanese music, which was housed in a music store in Germany. It didn't exist anywhere else, but the designer could not complete the purchase, and American Express communicated it would refund the amount.
Also Read | ‘Trump forcing India to sit with the Chinese’: Former NSA Jake Sullivan lashes out at US tariffs
“They just said they were nervous about following the law. It’s annoying but understandable. The way all this is being implemented — there’s so much uncertainty,” graphic designer Ben Jay told NBC News.
Why are shipments to the US being stopped?
The logistics expert told the publication that foreign postal services do not otherwise have problems making deliveries to the US. However, they do not have the systems needed to process tariffs and pay them to US Customs and Border Protection.
The Trump administration, essentially, now wants foreign mail careers to act as import tax collectors for the US government, and the expert NBC News spoke to, felt that this might be something they were not set up to do, or unwilling to do.
What officials said
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said, "President Trump's ending of the deadly de minimis loophole will save thousands of American lives by restricting the flow of narcotics and other dangerous prohibited items, and add up to $10 billion a year in tariff revenues to our Treasury," when speaking to reporters on Thursday.
A senior administration official, meanwhile, said the change was permanent, adding that any push to restore the exemptions for trusted trading partner countries was "dead on arrival."
Who are likely to be most hit
As per retail analysts the end of de minimis is likely to raise prices for many goods sold through e-commerce companies. Costs for these firms may now be at par with costs for more established retailers like Walmart that tend to import merchandise in bulk containers, on which tariffs are placed. The move will also likely to curb trade on peer-to-peer platforms like eBay and Etsy.
(With Reuters inputs)
