Feb. 5 (UPI) — The United States Postal Service said Wednesday will resume accepting package mail from China and Hong Kong.
USPS announced that effective Wednesday it “will continue accepting all international inbound mail and packages from China and Hong Kong Posts.”
“The USPS and Customs and Border Protection are working closely together to implement an efficient collection mechanism for the new China tariffs to ensure the least disruption to package delivery,” it said.
USPS suspended receiving packages from China and Hong Kong Tuesday until further notice in what it called a “temporary service disruption.”
The Wednesday statement acknowledged new Trump administration tariffs on Chinese goods was behind the disruption in service.
Letters and flat mailers from China and Hong Kong were not impacted.
An additional 10% tariff was placed on Chinese goods and 25% on Canadian and Mexican products. The Canada and Mexico tariffs will be implemented in 30 days.
The three nations are the largest U.S. trading partners.
A loophole known as de minimus was closed as the new tariffs were imposed. It let packages worth less than $800 be imported into the United States duty-free.
Chinese companies Temu and Shein likely make up more than 30% of de minimus packages, according to a 2023 House report.
Congress raised the de minimus threshold in 2016 from $200 per package to $800.
China imposed a 10% tariff on 72 U.S. exports in retaliation for the Trump tariffs. A 15% tariff was applied to eight U.S. products.
The impacted U.S. exports included crude oil, farm machinery, large-engine cars, coal, and liquified natural gas.