DHL, Postal Services Delay Some US Shipments

As the de minimis exemption came to an end Friday (Aug. 29), postal services around the world suspended shipments to the United States or made changes to comply with new U.S. customs requirements.

In a roundup article posted Friday, Reuters reported that several of the postal services said they were taking these actions because it was unclear how U.S. customs authorities would implement the new rules.

The de minimis exemption — which allowed items valued under $800 to enter the U.S. without paying a duty — was ended by President Donald Trump’s executive order, which said the exemption had allowed tariff evasion and drug trafficking.

The postal services that have suspended shipments to the U.S. include Posten Bring of Norway, PostNord of Sweden and Denmark, and Australia Post, according to the report.

Postal services that have paused some, but not all, shipments to the U.S. include DHL Group’s Deutsche Post and DHL Parcel Germany, La Poste of France, Austrian Post and Japan Post, per the report.

When DHL Group announced the changes it made in response to new U.S. customs regulations, the company said in an Aug. 22 press release: “The reason for these anticipated temporary restrictions is new processes required by U.S. authorities for postal shipping, which differ from the previously applicable regulations.”

“Key questions remain unresolved, particularly regarding how and by whom customs duties will be collected in the future, what additional data will be required, and how the data transmission to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection will be carried out,” the release said.

PostEurop, a trade association representing European postal carriers, said in an Aug. 19 press release that its members may limit their shipments to the U.S., “if critical issues and processes are not defined and, thus, compliant solutions cannot be found before the regulations take effect.”

When announcing July 30 that Trump signed the executive order suspending the de minimis exemption for all countries, the White House said this “catastrophic loophole” was used to evade tariffs and import illegal, unsafe and below-market products into the U.S.

The White House added that the number of de minimis shipments entering the U.S. leapt from 134 million in 2015 to over 1.36 billion in 2024.