Chaos and confusion as USPS halts, then resumes parcels from China
It's been a confusing 24 hours at the US Postal Service (USPS) after the Trump administration imposed new tariffs on China that eliminated a loophole allowing low-value Chinese packages into the US duty-free.
On Tuesday, the USPS abruptly stopped accepting all inbound packages from Hong Kong and China. This briefly halted personal shipments from China, as well as online deliveries from China-based companies. That included blocking orders from online marketplaces increasingly popular with Americans like Alibaba, Temu, and Shein, as well as China-based retailers selling cheap goods on Amazon.
But by Wednesday morning, the USPS reversed the temporary policy, posting an international service notice clarifying that the USPS and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) "are working closely together to implement an efficient collection mechanism for the new China tariffs to ensure the least disruption to package delivery."