Last night I received this email message, written by an eBay seller in the London area -
It would seem that the UK post office as well as the European postal services and all carriers (DHL etc) are suspending all deliveries to the USA unless it is a gift with a value of less than $100. This is because Trump has not told anyone how these tariffs are to be applied and as a result there are no systems to ship packages to the US. It is not known when we can ship to the US again. The restriction is set to start Monday. I can still ship tomorrow, so if there is anything I am listing now that you want, make me an offer and I can switch the listing to a buy it now price.RegardsRoger
Today I am seeing confirmation by the BBC -
Postal services around the world are pausing some deliveries to the US over confusion around new import taxes that must be paid on parcels from the end of the month.US President Donald Trump signed an executive order last month ending the global import tax exemption on low-value parcels, which takes effect from 29 August.While gifts worth less than $100 will remain duty-free, the changes mean all other packages will face the same tariff rate as other goods from their country of origin.Postal services, including Royal Mail and Germany's DHL, said they would suspend deliveries until they had proper systems in place to deal with the new rules.
Addendum: More information here (and elsewhere)
Australia as well: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08-21/australia-post-suspends-transit-shipping-parcels-us-trump-tariff/105680456
ReplyDeleteDonald John and his lesser cells are a plague. We owe many people, very many really, and apology.
ReplyDeleteAnd more: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ap-eu-us-postal-crisis-shipment-suspended-trump-tariffs_n_68ab11f8e4b0943e34b745a7?gx
ReplyDeleteNote that the problem is that the US demands tariffs are levied, but has no mechanism in place to get it done. So the mailing agencies don't know what to do.
This is a failure of governance. Policy by tweet is no policy.
It is also consequence of treating the federal executive as a hostile force instead of an apparatus that can pretty much do anything, including putting a man on the moon. Ill doers are ill deemers.
I thought that the person importing the item pays the tariff? Deliver the item to the USA, it goes to a holding area, and then Custom sends a note to the recipient that 'you have a package and you owe the tariff. come to this location with money to get your package.'
ReplyDeleteI believe the shipper wants to be paid first, before schlepping it across the ocean. If the amount of the tariff is unknown or unspecified, or the applicable date changes, they will hold it until payment is made.
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