25 countries suspend postal services to U.S. over tariffs: UN

A DHL Express airplane stands in the hangar during the official launching ceremony of the Airbus A330-200 cargo airplane by the European Air Transport Leipzig GmbH (EAT), Friday, Oct. 12, 2018. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer)

At least 25 countries have decided to suspend package deliveries to the United States, as concern grows over the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump’s looming tariffs, a UN body said Tuesday.

The Trump administration said late last month that it will abolish a tax exemption on small packages entering the United States from August 29.

The move has sparked a flurry of announcements from postal services, including in France, Britain, Germany, Italy, India, Australia and Japan, that most U.S.-bound packages would no longer be accepted.

The United Nations’ Universal Postal Union said it had already been advised by 25 member countries that their postal operators “have suspended their outbound postal services to the U.S., citing uncertainties specifically related to transit services”.

It said the suspensions will remain in place until there is more clarity on how U.S. authorities plan to implement the announced measures.

The UPU did not provide a list of postal services it had heard from.

‘Considerable operational changes’

The organization, which was established in 1874 and counts 192 member states, warned that the new U.S. measures would “entail considerable operational changes for postal operators around the world”.

From Friday, the UPU said the measures would require postal carriers delivering packages to the United States “to collect customs duties from senders in advance”, on behalf of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency.

India’s communications ministry said at the weekend that Trump’s executive order issued last month requires transport carriers or other “qualified parties” approved by U.S. authorities to collect and remit the tariff duties.

But “several critical processes relating to the designation of ‘qualified parties’ and mechanisms for duty collection and remittance remain undefined,” it said in a statement.

Under the new U.S. measures, individual customers will still be able to send documents and items worth up to $100 as presents to the country without being taxed.

But anything above that value is expected to be hit with the same tariff rates applied to other imports from the sending country.

That means 15 percent for countries in the European Union and 50 percent for India.

And Germany’s postal service DHL warned last week that even exempted items would be subject to extra checks to prevent the service being used for commercial goods.

‘Sustainable solutions’

The UPU stressed that it was “taking all possible measures to prepare its member countries for the impacts (the new measures) may have on their postal flows”.

UPU chief Masahiko Metoki had sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday to convey member countries’ concern regarding the operational disruptions, it said.

Pointing to the short implementation timeline and voicing particular concern over the impact on the delivery of e-commerce items, the union said it was “working with the relevant U.S. authorities to ensure that information on the operational requirements of the measures is communicated effectively to other member countries”.

In parallel, it said it was working with “relevant postal stakeholders” to help find sustainable solutions, including one initiative aimed at developing a system to facilitate duty collection and remittance across its network.

Full list of countries suspending U.S. parcel shipments

• Australia
• Austria
• Belgium
• China
• Czechia
• Denmark
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• India
• Italy
• Japan
• Netherlands
• New Zealand
• Norway
• Russia
• Singapore
• South Korea
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• Taiwan
• Thailand
• United Kingdom

With files from CTV News