North America·Tariffs and tradeAsiaEuropePostal traffic to U.S.
plunges 70% for a full 5 weeks after end of ‘de minimis’ exemptionBy Mae AndersonBy The Associated PressBy Mae AndersonBy The Associated Press A postal worker ders mail in Manhattan on September 05, 2025 in New York City.
Spencer Platt/Getty ImagesPostal traffic is to the U.S.
is still down 70% five weeks after the end of the “de minimis” exemption that spared low-value packages from duties and packages, the United Nations postal agency said Friday.
Confusion has reigned since the U.S. the tariff exemption for packages worth less than $800 on Aug. 29.
In September, the Universal Postal Union reported 88 of its 192 member countries had susp all or some of its postal services to the U.S. to have time to adjust their shipping cedures.
On Friday, the UPU said “only a handful” of those had resumed operations to the U.S. The organization said traffic to the U.S. on Oct.
3 was down 70.7% compared with volume one week before the regulatory changes. On Aug. 29, when the exemption , volume plummeted 81% from a week earlier.
Bern, Switzerland-based UPU said it is rolling out nology that will help members calculate, collect and remit required duties to the U.S.
Customs and Border tection through the UPU’s Customs Declaration System. “Postal services are essential services,” said Lati Matata, Director of the UPU’s Postal nology Centre, in a statement.
The nology, an application gramming interface, or API, will allow “every postal operator in (UPU’s) network – no matter how big or small – to meet customs requirements to ensure that citizens worldwide, including U.S citizens, receive their postal items,” Matata said.
Since the exemption , purchases that previously entered the U.S.
without needing to customs now require vetting and are subject to their origin country’s applicable tariff rate, which can range from 10% to 50%.
While the change applies to the ducts of every country, U.S.
residents will not have to pay duties on incoming gifts valued at up to $100, or on up to $200 worth of personal souvenirs from trips abroad, according to the White House.
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