Hongkong Post announced on Monday, February 10th, that it will “temporarily resume” parcel services to the United States starting from February 11th.
After confirming with the United States Postal Service (USPS) that no additional tariffs will be imposed on parcels sent from Hongkong Post to the U.S., Hongkong Post issued a statement to resume the relevant services.
The statement mentioned that Hongkong Post received an official notification from the USPS on Monday, stating that the U.S. government has determined that “no need to impose tariffs on mail sent by Hongkong Post to the United States that carries goods internally,” therefore, the organization will “temporarily resume the relevant postal services.”
As part of the additional 10% tariff imposed on China, President Trump of the United States revoked the “de minimis” rule, which allowed duty-free entry of parcels under $800 into the U.S.
The USPS had announced on February 4th the suspension of receiving all inbound parcels from China and Hongkong Post, but later resumed the service.
Due to a backlog of a large number of low-cost parcels already entered into the U.S., U.S. Customs officials were overwhelmed. The Trump administration announced on February 7th (last Friday) the temporary postponement of canceling the “de minimis” for parcels from China and Hong Kong until the Commerce Department confirms the procedures and systems for handling parcels and collecting tariffs are in place.
The “de minimis” provision has existed since the 1930s in the U.S., and in 2016, under the Obama administration, the duty-free threshold was raised from $200 to $800.
Companies such as Shein and Temu, Chinese e-commerce companies, utilized this exemption to send millions of small parcels to U.S. customers every day.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported that in the fiscal year 2024, the total value of duty-free goods imported into the U.S. reached 14 billion pieces, approximately double the amount in 2022.
A report from the U.S. Congressional Research Service indicated that the value of duty-free small parcel exports from China surged from $5.3 billion in 2018 to $66 billion in 2023.