Major European postal companies have temporarily suspended the shipment of goods to the United States due to the end of the exemption previously established for packages valued under $800.
This decision affects postal firms from Italy, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Estonia, among others.
In early April, U.S. President Donald Trump decided to impose a tariff on packages entering the country, originally set to take effect on May 2.
However, the implementation was delayed due to uncertainty regarding the measure, remaining suspended until August 15, when U.S. authorities issued detailed requirements necessary for the enforcement of the executive order.
The moratorium on this type of shipment is set to expire next Friday, August 29, after which customs duties will be required at the time of shipment.
The United Kingdom, which is not part of the European Union (EU), was the last country to enforce the suspension, with its postal service, the Royal Mail, ceasing shipments to the U.S. starting Tuesday.
Yet, An Post of the Republic of Ireland confirmed in a statement that it will maintain shipments to avoid “confusion, delays, and inconvenience” for customers sending and receiving parcels.
Another company to halt postal services was Poste Italiane, Italy’s largest firm, which has not provided the service since August 23 due to “lack of alternative instructions from U.S. authorities or exceptions to the mentioned deadlines,” as they stated in a release.
France’s public postal service, La Poste, implemented a similar measure today, citing “extremely tight deadlines” to prepare for the “new customs procedures” approved by the U.S., which include a 15% tariff on shipments from the EU.
The Norwegian service, Posten Bring, also paused package shipments to the U.S., as did other Nordic nations, citing the current situation as creating “uncertainty about transport, return, and liability possibilities.”
This same uncertainty was echoed by Finland’s Posti and Lithuania’s Lietuvos Pastas, both of which suspended shipments as well.
Denmark and Sweden’s postal company, Post Nord, ceased shipments last week, and in Germany and Austria, DHL and Österreichische Post, respectively, followed suit.
In Spain, Correos ensured that the measure “will remain for the time strictly necessary to adopt operational measures to meet the new obligations of the United States executive order.”
