The United States Postal Service Interrupts Accepting China-made-in-Hong Kong Packages in the First Day of the De minimis Expansion
The United States Postal Services has stopped accepting packages from Hong Kong and China until further notice, according to an international service disruption notice. The move comes after China imposed retaliatory tariffs on US imports, including coal and liquified natural gas, in response to President Trump’s executive order to increase tariffs on China.
“We talked to the Montana CBP cargo supervisor, and they said everything is from the higher-up,” Daniel says. Many trucks were turned away at the border today by our drivers. Some officers looked at the trucks and wondered if there were any made-in-China items in them. This is the last chance you have. They were actually going through the trucks and randomly checking the packages.”
He adds that identifying and separating packages from China is an arduous process because the goods that his trucks carry usually include thousands of small parcels like DVDs, toys, and video games, all coming from a variety of sources.
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 online retailers like Temu, Shein, and Amazon, which were able to ship cheaper goods directly to consumers while avoiding import duties.
About 100,000 entries will be filed each day by US Customs, according to the vicepresident of customs and trade management at Flexport. They have to process a couple million more packages every day so they can verify what is in them.
What’s going on in the US cellular telephone system? Sound off the wall: Trump’s approach to the de minimis exemption revisited
About 10,000 people work for USAID, roughly two-thirds of whom are stationed overseas, according to the US Congressional Research Service, a nonpartisan policy research group that serves Congress (the figure excludes “institutional support” contractors). More than 60 regional and country missions make up the agency, but represent less than 1 percent of the total US federal budget.
Do you have any insight as to what’s going on at Shein, Temu, or another company? We would love to hear from you. Using a nonwork phone or computer, contact the reporter via email at zeyi_yang@wired.com or on Signal at @zeyiyang.06.
In the past administrations have considered introducing reforms or removing the de minimis exemption, however, Trump is the first to actually do so. “This is the administration’s version of moving fast and breaking things,” says Ram Ben Tzion, cofounder and CEO of Publican, a digital shipment vetting platform, citing one of the core tenets of startup culture.
The USPS and others are faced with the task of inspecting large volumes of shipments from China that are suddenly subject to import taxes, which can cause delays and problems for packagers from other destinations. Added costs are also likely thanks to the additional burden of inspecting and processing the parcels.
de minimis shipments pose safety concerns and make it easier for low quality products to reach US buyers. In the case of e-bike and batteries, some manufacturers have used de minimis to avoid safety regulations and avoid product inspection, which has resulted in hundreds of fires in New York City.
Implications of China’s tax restrictions on high-$leq$ US energy and large-autonomy vehicles in the wake of Trump’s Brexit
China has imposed taxes on US fuel and large vehicles, as well as restrictions on certain rare minerals used in technology manufacturing, in response to Trump’s tariffs. The country has also initiated antitrust proceedings against Google and Nvidia, with probes into Intel and Apple rumored to be in the works as well.
The European Commission renewed its call for the EU to reform its customs rules, which would remove its duty-free exemption for packages under 150, and also suggested applying a handling fee for e-Commerce shipments imported directly to consumers in order to recover costs of inspecting and processing.