USPS Suspends Acceptance Of Packages from China

The United States Postal Service has just temporarily suspended accepting any packages from China or Hong Kong until further notice.

The suspension went into effect immediately.

No word yet on how long the suspension will last.

Take a look:

BREAKING: United States Postal Service USPS just announced suspending all incoming packages from China and Hong Kong.

About time! RIP Temu! SHEIN! Alibaba! pic.twitter.com/jznljoxz7A

— AJ Huber (@Huberton) February 5, 2025

The USPS just suspended the acceptance of packages from China and Hong Kong until further notice. pic.twitter.com/ymvRmsYf2f

— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) February 5, 2025

CBS News reported:

The United States Postal Service announced Tuesday night that it is temporarily suspending accepting packages sent from China and Hong Kong until further notice.

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The suspension is effective immediately, the USPS said. Letters and flats are not included in the suspension, it said.

The postal service did not provide a reason for the suspension or say how long it expects it to last.

U.S. officials are saying that the uptick in shipments from Chinese retailers like Temu and Shein are to blame.

President Trump recently shut down a trade loophole — known as the de minimis exception — that was used by these Chinese companies to ship low-value packages to the U.S. without paying tariffs.

Reuters explained:

The U.S. Postal Service said it would temporarily suspend parcels from China and Hong Kong, after President Donald Trump shut a trade loophole this week used by retailers including Temu and Shein to ship low-value packages duty-free to the U.S.

The Trump administration imposed an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods that came into effect on Tuesday and moved to close the “de minimis” loophole that allows importers and U.S. shoppers to avoid paying tariffs for packages worth less than $800.

USPS said the change will not impact the flow of letters and ‘flats’ from China and Hong Kong. It did not immediately comment on whether this was tied to Trump’s change to ending de minimis shipments from China and other countries.

Fast-fashion retailer Shein and online dollar-store Temu, both of which sell products ranging from toys to smartphones, have grown rapidly in the U.S. thanks in part to the de minimis exemption.

The two firms together likely accounted for more than 30% of all packages shipped to the United States each day under the de minimis provision, the U.S. congressional committee on China said in a June 2023 report.

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Nearly half of all packages shipped under de minimis come from China, according to the report.

Shein and Temu did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

“In our view, the USPS would require some time to sort out how to execute the new taxes before allowing Chinese packages to arrive in the U.S. again,” said Chelsey Tam, senior equity analyst, Morningstar. “This is a significant challenge for them because there were 4 million de minimis package per day in 2024, and it is difficult to check all the packages – so it will take time.”