Royal Mail and DHL halt some US deliveries over tariffs

Postal providers around the globe are pausing some deliveries to the US over confusion round new import taxes that should be paid on parcels from the top of the month.US President Donald Trump signed an govt order final month ending the worldwide import tax exemption on low-value parcels, which takes impact from 29 August.Whereas items value lower than $100 will stay duty-free, the adjustments imply all different packages will face the identical tariff price as different items from their nation of origin.Postal providers, together with Royal Mail and Germany’s DHL, mentioned they’d droop deliveries till they’d correct techniques in place to cope with the brand new guidelines.Royal Mail mentioned it was withdrawing its present US export providers for companies from Tuesday, however added it hoped to have a brand new system up and working inside two days to permit it to adjust to the brand new guidelines earlier than they kick in.”We now have been working onerous with US authorities and worldwide companions to adapt our providers to fulfill the brand new US de minimis necessities so UK shoppers and companies can proceed to make use of our providers once they come into impact,” the corporate mentioned.Royal Mail mentioned playing cards and letters might continued to be posted as typical.The US had a so-called de minimis exemption on packages value as much as $800, which allowed shoppers to purchase low cost clothes and family items from websites equivalent to Shein and Temu with out paying import duties.However the duty-free rule on Chinese language items ended on 2 Could, and is now being prolonged to the remainder of the phrase.The White Home mentioned ending the duty-free exemption would fight “escalating misleading transport practices, unlawful materials, and obligation circumvention”, claiming some shippers had “abused” the exemption to ship illicit medication into the US.The Trump administration mentioned de minimis shipments had skyrocketed from 115 million within the 2023/24 monetary yr, to 309 million by 30 June this yr.Whereas China is a serious supply of shipments that use the exemption, Canada and Mexico are additionally vital sources of low-cost parcels being despatched to the US.Deutsche Put up and DHL Parcel Germany mentioned it was briefly suspending parcel supply for enterprise prospects to the US from Saturday, as “key questions stay unresolved” about how duties could be paid, and by whom.DHL unhappy it was “carefully monitoring the additional developments” and remained involved with US authorities, and mentioned transport through its DHL Specific providers “stays doable”.”The corporate’s purpose is to renew postal items transport to the US as shortly as doable,” it mentioned.Earlier this week PostNord introduced it was additionally suspending providers because the US authorities solely supplied particulars concerning the required adjustments on 15 August.”This choice is unlucky however vital to make sure full compliance of the newly carried out guidelines,” mentioned Bjorn Bergman, PostNord’s head of group model and communication.On-line market Etsy mentioned it was suspending transport label purchases from 25 August for Australia Put up, Canada Put up, Royal Mail and Evri for US-bound packages whereas couriers adjusted providers.”The state of tariffs is evolving, so please make sure you keep watch over suggestions out of your most well-liked transport provider,” Etsy mentioned in recommendation to its sellers.In Trump’s “large lovely invoice”, handed by Congress on 3 July, the change to de minimis was because of come into impact on 1 July 2027, however a current govt order sped up the method by two years.The brand new rule doesn’t have an effect on private objects Individuals carry with them from overseas journey valued at $200 or much less and it doesn’t have an effect on items valued at $100 or much less.