Postal services in Japan and Switzerland are the latest to pause shipments to the United States this week, days before an exemption for certain import taxes is about to expire.
The loophole, known as “de minimis,” has allowed goods worth less than $800 to enter the United States duty-free since 2016. President Donald Trump signed an executive order last month to abolish the practice. It is set to end Friday.
The change has rocked small businesses and consumers, leaving many concerned about shipping backlogs and higher costs. Some business owners have said on social media they will be forced to close up shop.
“There is so much uncertainty about how these tariffs are going to be collected,” said Caleb Silver, editor-in-chief of Investopedia. “Who will collect these tariffs? What products, if any, will be exempt from these tariffs? And that just adds more uncertainty into an already very confusing picture around tariffs and how they’re going to impact us here in the United States.”
The change means effective Friday, goods coming into the U.S. from abroad will be slapped with country-specific tariffs. For an $800 item coming in from a country with a tariff rate of 25% or more (like China, Brazil, India, Switzerland or Canada), that could amount to at least $200 in extra costs just to bring the product into the U.S.
Under the new rules, letters and personal gifts worth less than $100 will still be duty-free.
The White House said ending the de minimis exemption would help combat “escalating deceptive shipping practices, illegal material, and duty circumvention,” claiming some shippers had “abused” the exemption to send illicit drugs such as fentanyl into the U.S.
The de minimis exemption had also been a focal point of the administration’s trade spat with China. Chinese-linked e-commerce companies like Temu and Shein surged in popularity among American consumers by directly shipping cheap clothes and goods under the de minimis threshold. Despite the ongoing conversation between the U.S. and China on a framework trade agreement, the administration ended the de minimis exemption for low-value imports from China and Hong Kong in early May, prompting Temu and Shein to switch to a “local fulfillment model” to avoid price hikes.
On Monday, Swiss Post and Japan Post announced they would soon suspend shipments bound for the United States. Postal services in Australia, India, New Zealand, the U.K. and other parts of Europe have said they will also stop shipping parcels to the States this week.
DHL, one of the biggest delivery companies in the world, said Friday it will stop accepting parcels destined for the U.S. starting Monday, saying that “key questions remain unresolved, particularly regarding how and by whom customs duties will be collected in the future, what additional data will be required, and how the data transmission to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection will be carried out.”
Many European postal services say they are pausing shipments now because they cannot guarantee the goods will enter the United States before Friday.
Other delivery services said they would try to pick up the slack. “Our priority is supporting our customers and helping them navigate through the changes going into effect for U.S.-bound shipments on Aug. 29,” FedEx said.
Kayla Steinberg contributed.
