Posted on 08/29/2025 5:36:00 AM PDT by delta7
Twenty-five nations have declared a temporary suspension on all postal shipments to the United States amid tariff uncertainty. As of August 29, 2025, the United Stated will remove the de minimis exemption from law that allowed goods under $800 to enter tax-free.
Tariffs range between 10% to 50% on the declared value, or $80 to $200 per parcel. Goods above $2,500 are subject to a Merchandise Processing Fee and additional formal customs checks. Processing delays and increased costs were incurred immediately, but now, a growing number of nations have decided to simply discontinue parcel service.
In Europe, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Czechia, the Netherlands, Spain, Poland, Portugal, and Ireland suspended services. In the Asia-Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand have halted services as well. Canada has also curbed its mail exports. All of this has been implemented at the federal level, whereas previously, individual postal carriers determined whether or not they would service the US.
“Despite discussions with U.S. customs services, no time was provided to postal operators to reorganize and assure the necessary computer updates to conform to the new rules,” France’s La Poste said in a statement. The Australia Post said the temporary partial suspension has been necessary to allow us to develop and implement a workable solution for our customers.” Italy’s Post Italiane noted that “the absence of different instructions from U.S. authorities,” forced the suspension of services. The United States did not consider the logistics of suddenly transforming import regulations.
American consumers are watching their orders decline in real-time. Items in transit are being returned of delayed, especially if they arrive after August 29.
This is a fatal blow to small businesses that rely on international orders. American consumerism composes two-thirds of all GDP and other nations eagerly line up to sell their goods. Any downturn in trade is a negative for all parties involved.
The situation is still developing, but any suspension in parcel delivery will hurt the global economy. The United States did not give the world sufficient time to prepare for this new regulation.
The EU, Japan, Canada, and others have the experience and infrastructure to integrate compliance changes and digital customs data, but other nations with less developed postal infrastructure are unlikely to quickly adapt their systems. These nations have been forced to halt services due to logistics rather than a punishment to the US as all parties involved will face consequences.
Already posted yesterday.
OMG, no. My last Temu order already took 2 months.
Will be interesting to see how the flow of medications dries up to the US.
Also a misleading headline. It’s just packages to the US that now need customs collection.
Will be interesting to see how the flow of medications dries up to the US.
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It already has from India. My Ivermectin tablets order from India were cancelled.
A shame, Ivermectin tablets in the US are three times the price ( crooks) and in my state it requires a doctors prescription.
Tennessee passed a law ( and a few other States) Ivermectin no longer needs a doctors prescription. I had to send someone up to pick up a six month supply.
I expect our corrupted Pharma to continue it’s war on Ivermectin.
Suits me!
How might this affect blood pressure meds?
bkmk
I sent a Cincinnati Bengals onesie to a buddy in Sweden that just had a baby.
The onesie was $68 or so with tax.
The package was marked “gift” on the paperwork with description.
Sweden charged him 350SEK, roughly $35 tariff to pick it up.
This was in February, before Trump started the tariff news event.
You stop being a lackey fool, and your friends stop liking you.
Free milk and a cow.
Do you believe medications were being shipped into the country in orders less than $800? Nah, I don’t believe you are that daft, you are just a troll trying to stir shit
This will put the blocks to the enormous “gray market”, where products that are expensive in the US are made in other countries for sale at much lower prices, then shipped to the US.
Because they are licensed, they are not illegal. A good example are Criterion DVDs and BRs. They retail in the US for high prices, but when (licensed) manufactured in South East Asia, they sell for much lower prices for the local market.
So people there will buy them up, and sell them on sites like eBay. At perhaps a third of US retail. They took advantage of the “de minimis” customs and postage to ship to the US cheaply.
Fentanyl was coming in this way, too.
I run the ArmstrongEconomics scam site.
The worth of my advice can be measured by my three bankruptcies and losing over $700,000,000 of my clients' funds in bad trades.
That failed ponzi scheme got me eleven years in the federal pen.
signed, Martin Armstrong
Really? Many of us did not see it. Maybe because we were working.
Does that mean we are saving?
You are on the right track.
Cuban cigar shipments from Europe and Asia have been stopped this week—for the first time since the Cuban embargo began under JFK.
The US was 20% of the international market—even though the product is illegal in the US.
The vendors are not primarily worried about tariffs. They are concerned that customs will carefully inspect a much larger percentage of packages and will confiscate the contraband.
(I have a lifetime supply already—another “gloom and doom” theory becomes “gloom and doom” fact.)
Did you get your invitation to the axis if evil (China, Russia, North Korea) upcoming meeting?
The headline says “suspends postal service”, the article says “parcels”.
Is all postal service ended for now? Or only packages? Wonder where they draw the line?
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