ATHENS, Greece — The expiration of an exemption on tariff duties for low-value packages entering the United States is prompting various postal services to halt shipping as they seek further clarity on the regulation.
The “de minimis” exemption allows packages under $800 in value to enter the U.S. duty-free. As per the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Agency, 1.36 billion packages, worth $64.6 billion, were shipped under this exemption in 2024.
This exemption is set to end next Friday. On Saturday, several postal services across Europe declared a suspension of many package shipments to the United States due to insufficient clarity on new import duties.
Postal services in Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and Italy announced an immediate halt on shipping most merchandise to the U.S. France and Austria plan to do the same on Monday, followed by the United Kingdom on Tuesday.
“Key questions remain unresolved, particularly regarding how and by whom customs duties will be collected in the future, what additional data will be required, and how the data transmission to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection will be carried out,” DHL, Europe’s largest shipping provider, stated.
The company announced that starting Saturday it “will no longer be able to accept and transport parcels and postal items containing goods from business customers destined for the US.”
A trade framework agreed on by the U.S. and the European Union last month set a 15% tariff on the vast majority of products shipped from the EU. Packages under $800 will now also be subject to the tariff.
Many other European postal services say they are pausing deliveries now because they cannot guarantee the goods will enter the U.S. before Aug. 29. They cite ambiguity about what kind of goods are covered by the new rules, and the lack of time to process their implications.
Postnord, the Nordic logistics company, and Italy’s postal service announced similar suspensions effective Saturday.
“In the absence of different instructions from US authorities … Poste Italiane will be forced, like other European postal operators, to temporarily suspend acceptance of all shipments containing goods destined for the United States, starting August 23. Mail shipments not containing merchandise will continue to be accepted,” Poste Italiane said Friday.
Shipping by services such as DHL Express remains possible, it added.
Björn Bergman, head of PostNord’s Group Brand and Communication, said the pause was “unfortunate but necessary to ensure full compliance of the newly implemented rules.”
In the Netherlands, PostNL spokesperson Wout Witteveen said the Trump administration is pressing ahead with the new duties despite U.S. authorities lacking a system to collect them. He said that PostNL is working closely with its U.S. counterparts to find a solution.
“If you have something to send to America, you should do it today,” Witteveen told The Associated Press.
Austrian Post, Austria’s leading logistics and postal service provider, stated that the last acceptance of commercial shipments to the U.S., including Puerto Rico, will take place Tuesday.
France’s national postal service, La Poste, said the U.S. did not provide full details or allow enough time for the French postal service to prepare for new customs procedures.
Despite discussions with U.S. customs services, no time was provided to postal operators to re-organize and assure the necessary computer updates to conform to the new rules, it said in a statement.
The U.K.’s Royal Mail said it would halt U.S. shipments on Tuesday “to allow time for those packages to arrive before duties kick in.” Items originating in the U.K. will require a 10% duty for items over $100, it said.
PostEurop, an association of 51 European public postal operators, said that if no solution can be found by Aug. 29 all its members will likely follow suit.
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Anderson reported from New York. Associated Press writers Angela Charlton in Paris; Costas Kantouris in Thessaloniki, Greece; Stephanie Lichtenstein in Vienna; Brian Melley in London and Molly Quell in Amsterdam contributed to this report.
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