News Brief
After Europe And Australia, India To Halt Postal Services To US From 25 August Amid Trump’s Tariff Order
India Post Office (Ashwini Vaishnaw/Twitter)
The Department of Posts announced on Saturday (23 August) that it will suspend all postal services to the United States temporarily from 25 August following new US customs rules linked to President Donald Trump’s tariff measures, reported Hindustan Times.
The suspension stems from Executive Order No. 14324, issued on 30 July, which removed the duty-free exemption for goods worth up to $800.
As per the order, from 29 August, “all international postal items destined for the USA, regardless of their value, shall be subject to customs duties as per the country-specific International Emergency Economic Power Act (IEEPA) tariff framework.”
Gift items worth up to $100 will remain exempt.
Trump’s recent decision to impose a 25 per cent tariff on India and an additional 25 per cent penalty for buying Russian oil effectively doubled the tariff burden, worsening trade tensions.
The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued guidelines on 15 August, requiring transport carriers or other “qualified parties” to collect and remit duties.
However, CBP has not clarified processes for recognising “qualified parties” or mechanisms for duty collection. Due to this uncertainty, US-bound air carriers informed Indian officials that they cannot accept consignments after 25 August.
The department advised customers to claim refunds for undeliverable items and assured it is “closely monitoring the evolving situation…to normalise services at the earliest possible opportunity.”
Earlier on Friday (22 August), Germany's postal service announced a raft of temporary restrictions on package deliveries to the United States due to tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump.
DHL, which owns the Deutsche Post service, said that from Saturday it would "temporarily suspend" its standard category of package delivery to the US, the preferred option for many small businesses.
Other European postal services, for example, in Belgium, Austria and Denmark, have already taken similar measures.
Australia, too, has temporarily suspended its transit service deliveries — a small number of items from third countries sent through Australia to the US.
