USPS Resumes Accepting Packages from China After Brief Suspension

The United States Postal Service (USPS) has reversed its recent suspension and will once again accept parcels originating from China, Al Jazeera reports.

The agency announced that it resumed accepting all international inbound mail and packages from China and Hong Kong Posts, effective Wednesday.

The initial suspension occurred following President Donald Trump’s decision to eliminate a trade provision that allowed retailers to ship low-value packages duty-free to the US. This exemption, known as “de minimis,” previously allowed US shoppers to avoid paying tariffs on shipments below $800 from China. The Trump administration also imposed an additional 10-percent tariff on Chinese goods.

The USPS has not yet commented on whether the temporary suspension was directly linked to Trump’s order ending de minimis shipments from China, which took effect earlier this week.

While Trump implemented the 10-percent tariffs on Chinese goods, he also paused 25-percent tariffs against Canada and Mexico after both countries pledged to address drug trafficking and irregular migration at their borders with the US.

China responded to the US measures by announcing its own retaliatory tariffs, including 15-percent levies on imports of coal and liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the US. The Chinese Ministry of Finance also announced 10-percent tariffs on imports of US crude oil, agricultural machinery, large-displacement vehicles, and pick-up trucks.

Beijing has said that Washington’s actions “seriously violate World Trade Organization rules, do nothing to resolve its own problems, and disrupt normal economic and trade cooperation between China and the United States.”