- The United States Postal Service said it will stop accepting parcels from China and Hong Kong.
- The suspension will be effective starting Tuesday, the USPS said.
- Only parcels are affected for now — the restriction doesn’t apply to letters and flat mail.
The US Postal Service said on Tuesday that it is suspending inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong until further notice.
In a statement on its website, the USPS said the suspension will take effect immediately. It will not apply to letters and flat mail from China and Hong Kong.
When contacted for comment, USPS representatives directed Business Insider to the statement on the USPS website.
The suspension comes after the US imposed a new 10% tariff on all goods imported from China. On Tuesday, China responded with a 10% tariff on crude oil and agricultural machinery and a 15% tariff on coal and liquefied natural gas.
When President Donald Trump first announced the tariffs in an executive order he signed on Saturday, the order specified that the de minimis exemption for small packages would no longer apply.
That exemption was beneficial for Chinese e-commerce retailers like Shein and Temu, which could ship packages worth less than $800 directly to US customers without incurring tariffs.
“This is particularly relevant for Chinese e-commerce exporters, as shipments from the mainland and Hong Kong accounted for around 67% of all US-bound packages under the provision between 2018-2021,” Louise Loo, the lead economist for Greater China at Oxford Economics, wrote in a note on Tuesday.
According to the US Customs and Border Protection, the total volume of de minimis shipments into the US was over 1.36 billion in the 2024 fiscal year.
The US Customs and Border Protection said in a statement on January 17 that shipments into the US under the exemption have gone up by more than 600% over the last 10 years.
“This exponential increase has created challenges for CBP’s effective enforcement of US trade laws, health and safety requirements, intellectual property rights, and consumer protection rules,” the statement added.
Expect mail chaos, logistics expert says
US consumers can expect chaos with their packages, a trade specialist told BI.
“There’ll be disruption, there’ll be cancellations, the next couple of days are going to be chaotic,” said Ram Ben Tzion, the founder and CEO of Ultra Information Solutions.
To get around the suspension, Chinese exporters may choose to use alternative logistics companies like DHL, UPS, and FedEx — but this demand surge could cause freight costs to increase, said Ben Tzion, whose company is behind Publican, a digital vetting platform for global trade.
Private freight companies may also start evaluating how they plan to handle inbound packages from China and Hong Kong.
“The suspension is actually sending a very strong message to FedEx, to UPS, to DHL that they also need to consider if they continue taking packages from China,” Ben Tzion said.
He advises consumers to wait before carting out any products that are shipped out of China or Hong Kong.
“Basically, if you continue buying on Shein, Temu, Alibaba, or Amazon, I strongly suggest that you wait for the next week to see how it plays out, because it’s going to be a mess,” said Ben Tzion.
