The U.S. Postal Corporation announced on Tuesday that it had temporarily stopped accepting luggage from China and Hong Kong after a few hours after President Trump's orders came into effect.
Mr. Trump has ordered all products that leave China on Tuesday to follow the rules of valuable shipments on Tuesday. Until the change, a parcel equivalent to up to $ 800 did not need to include detailed information about the content, and it was not subject to tariffs.
The United States has almost no customs testing or at all, and has been imported in a day with nearly 4 million parcels in such a low -value parcel.
The Trump administration and other critics argued that Fentanyl, synthetic opioids, and related equipment have created a conduit for entering the United States by allowing the United States to the United States.
However, the tax exemption clause for low -value parcels known as the De Minimis rules was also used by many e -commerce companies, bringing them to the United States from China without paying tariffs to the United States.
Fedex and UPS are also affected by changes in customs rules. Most of the parcels move on frequent freight flights from China to the United States. Neither company has yet to respond to questions about how to process new rules.
De Minimis's provisions were included in more widespread orders by Trump, who imposed 10 % of the imports from China.
Low parcels from China, which had previously had no customs duties, are currently facing not only 10 % of tariffs, but also many complex duties in all categories in which these shipments were completely skirts. I am doing it.
The US Post Agency's Public Relations did not answer the question of whether the suspension is related to the change in trade rules.
Customs and border protection, which are in charge of import tests and tariffs, did not immediately respond to comment requests. The White House did not provide comments immediately. A trade lawyer said the postal suspension was caused by the Presidential Order.
The quick development of Trump's trade order was hardly time for post offices and customs officials to scrutinize so many packages. Mr. Trump said on January 22 that he would put a tariff on Canada and Mexico on February 1.
He added China to the list on January 23, but did not say that any of the three countries would ban the tax exemption processing of less than $ 800. He signed an administrative order on February 1, including the ban on De Minimis in all three countries, to be effective just three days later. On Monday, he stopped ordering Canada and Mexico on Monday, but left Chinese tariffs and De Minimis rules in a predetermined location.
De Minimis supporters have long stated that eliminating the rules will increase the burden on US customs staff. US customs and border security are also a major institution that is responsible for taking many of Trump's execution at the border.
At the online event in October, Ralph Carter, Vice President of Fedex, has a growing resource for customs employees in the United States, and changing the deminism rules may lead to the shipper's bottleneck. did.
“If you convert these millions of shipments from de minimis to formal unofficial clearance, there is no resources to manage it, so there is a serious supply chain backup,” he said. “And it will affect not only Deminimi importers but also all impedors.”
NEIL SAUNDERS, Managing Director of Globaldata Retail, a survey and consulting company, states that the decision to stop international packages from China and Hong Kong has the biggest impact on markets such as Shein, Temu, and some Amazon. Ta.
“They have millions of packages every week in the system,” said Sanders. “The route was temporarily blocked temporarily.”
Shein and Temu are the largest e -commerce companies that connect low -cost Chinese factories to millions of American households. Shein refused to comment on the new rules of a small package on Tuesday, but Temu has not yet responded to the questions sent on Monday. Also, Amazon did not respond immediately to the comment request.
By raising the lowest tax exemption, millions of American households have been able to purchase low -cost products from China. However, US manufacturers, such as textiles and apparel, argue that importing small parcels has impaired the ability to stay in business.
The rapid expansion of e -commerce has brought customs and border security dilemma for many years. Customs officials had already begun to overwhelm by a small e -commerce parcel in 2016 when the Congress and the Obama administration persuaded the minimum value of customs tests and tariff collection from $ 200 to $ 800.
However, with the increase in tax exemption, the number of tax exemptions has increased by 10 times since 2016. Congress has discussed how to change the rules of duty -free parcels for the past year.
The end of the Chinese de minimis rules can be particularly complicated in clothing imports. American law prohibits the import of forced labor in the new Jiang, the northwestern region of China, which has ordered a widespread repression of Uyghurs and other Muslims. 。
The law requires importers to prove that products, including new Jiang content, are not involved in forced labor. It is a difficult legal standard to satisfy because China has not allowed an independent labor inspection in the new Jiang. Xinjiang produces a lot of Chinese cotton.
De Minimis ran through these rules. The suspension of the de minimis rules may make it difficult for companies to ship such products from China.
