by Jakai Spikes
Wed, February 5th 2025 at 4:17 PM
Updated Wed, February 5th 2025 at 4:19 PM
FILE – Packages are seen stacked on the doorstep of a residence. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — About a day after stopping inbound shipments from China and Hong Kong, the U.S. Postal Service has reversed course on that ban.
This comes as a trade war between the U.S. and China continues to develop.
The Trump Administration put a 10-percent tariff on Chinese goods.
The future of Chinese sites like Shien and Temu was uncertain for online shoppers who frequent them.
However, USPS has vowed to work with Customs and Border protection to make sure there are no delivery delays.
Something called the De Minimis exemption comes into play here.
It lets exporters ship packages through the postal service that are worth less than $800 dollars, skipping duties and inspections.
A chart from US Customs and Border Protection shows how those shipments have increased in popularity significantly over the last 8 years:
We stopped by a local USPS site Wednesday.
We asked customers like Margret Vandergriff if the brief suspension stop her from shopping online. She said no.
But for Carolyn Blair…
“Their stuff is quality and the price you cannot beat.”
Blair knows the feeling of worrying if the mail that you ordered will make it to your doorstep.
“I had them try and see if they could find it, but my package was in suspension.”
That left her upset.
“I was upset because in the package there was things that could not be replaced.”
A statement from the postal service didn’t provide a reason for briefly suspending packages from China and Hong Kong.
But it did come one day after the Trump administration imposed an additional 10 percent tariff on Chinese goods.
Under the new tariffs imposed by Trump, analysts say consumers are likely to see price hikes and potential delays in shipments from companies like Shein and Temu.
