Update at 10 am on Wednesday, February 5, 2025:
The United States postal service revoked on Wednesday its decision to suspend packages from China and Hong Kong, only hours after announcing the measure.
USPS did not give reasons for reversal, but said he would work with the Office of Customs and Border Protection to implement a process of collection of new tariffs to China and avoid interruptions in delivery.
Original article published at 5:24 am from February 5, 2025:
Hong Kong – It is likely that Americans have trouble buying in Shein and Temu and receiving their orders on time, since The United States postal service announced that it will stop accepting packages from China and Hong Kong.
The announcement was made on Tuesday, after The United States imposed an additional 10% tariff on Chinese products and put an end to a customs exception that allowed small value packages to enter the United States without paying taxes. Canada and Mexico managed to negotiate a one -month extension against 25% tariffs threatened by the president of the United States, Donald Trump.
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This will probably affect online purchasing platforms such as Shein and Temu, popular among young buyers in the United States for their cheap clothes and other products, usually sent directly from China.
The direct and economic postal service helps these companies keep costs, as well as the exemption “of minimis” that previously allowed shipments to be tax free if their value is less than 800 dollars.
The temporary suspension by the USPS will probably delay shipments and could knew higher long -term prices.
Read also: Amazon launches a low -cost store called Haul to compete with Temu and Shein
What exactly announced the USPS?
The United States postal service said in a notice that it would stop temporarily accepting incoming packages of the emails of China and Hong Kong until further notice.
The letters and flat shipments – with a size of up to 38 centimeters (15 inches) long or 1.9 cm (3/4 inch) thick – are not affected.
Why?
The USPS did not indicate a reason in a brief announcement, but the suspension was announced after Trump closed this week the “minimis” customs exemption that allowed buyers and importers to avoid rights over packages valued below $ 800.
The exemption was eliminated as part of an executive order to impose a 10% tariff on Chinese products.
The United States Customs and Border Protection Office (CBP, for its initials in English) declared before processing an average of more than four million imports of “minimis” every week.
What is the impact and who are the most affected?
Consumers and companies may no longer send packages to the United States from Hong Kong or China.
This movement will probably impact Chinese Electronic Commerce companies such as Shein and Temu, although Shein will probably be more affected, according to Jacob Cooke, general director of the Electronic Marketing Agency WPIC Marketing + Technologies.
Both companies have a significant market share in the United States.
“Unlike Temu, Shein depends more on USPS for direct shipping to the consumer from China, and without this channel, he will have to depend more on private carriers,” Cooke said.
“This will increase logistics costs, which together with the recent elimination of minimis exemption for most China’s products, could erode their price advantage,” he said.
Cooke said that Temu operates in a different logistics model often sends wholesale orders to the United States before complying with orders nationwide.
“The Temu model to obtain low -cost goods should also allow the platform to absorb higher logistics costs and continue to be competitive in prices,” he said.
Shein and Temu did not comment at first.
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The spokesman of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lin Jian, said that China would take “necessary measures” to protect their companies and urged the United States to “stop politicizing economic and commercial affairs and use them as a tool, and stop suppressing unreasonably to Chinese companies. ”
What are the possible ways in which companies can overcome the problem?
It is not clear how much the suspension of the USPS will last, but the effort to end the exemption of Minimis seems to be a longer -term policy change, Cooke said.
“Shein and Temu will simply have to depend more on private carriers as a solution to USPS suspension,” he said.
In the long term, Shein could accelerate the expansion of his stores in the United States, while Temu can redouble his great shipping model. When sending to the wholesale to the United States and completing the delivery of orders within the country, logistics costs can be reduced, said Cooke.
“Send who whoever to the United States and deliver at the national level can reduce logistics costs, but for Shein, this raises a longer -term interruption of its business model that has depended on quickly developing new items and sending them directly to consumers ”Said Cooke.
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By Zen Soo / AP
This story was translated from English by an AP editor with the help of a generative artificial intelligence tool.
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