It’s past time to decide on that funky lamp from Denmark you keep eyeing online: Postal services around the world are pumping the brakes on shipments to the States while they adapt to new US tariff rules that kick in this week.
ICYMI: The de minimis exemption—a longstanding import policy that lets retailers ship packages worth up to $800 to US customers duty-free—will be suspended on Friday by an executive order. President Trump already ended the exemption for China and Hong Kong in May, leading fast-fashion giants Shein and Temu to raise their prices.
Now that the exemption is about to end for everybody, it’s likely to impact a lot of packages—de minimis shipments make up more than 90% of cargo entering the US by volume, according to Customs and Border Protection. Mail carriers around the world are pausing at least some US-bound parcels while they work through what they consider “ambiguous policies and the need to establish brand-new logistics systems,” NPR reported.
- More than a dozen European countries, including France, Italy, and Spain, have halted some merchandise shipments to the US.
- India, Thailand, South Korea, Singapore, New Zealand, and Australia have also announced pauses.
Stoppage time could vary: The UK said its pause should only last one or two days while it finalizes a new tariff-calculating service to invoice companies properly. Germany’s DHL Group, on the other hand, doesn’t have a timeline estimate other than “as quickly as possible,” per NPR.
How this will affect your online shopping
Whether you’re ordering jeans, an Etsy craft, the latest viral plush toy, or any regular ol’ consumer product, if it isn’t Made in the USA, you could be in for delays and higher checkout totals.
Beginning on Friday…all international merchandise headed to US customers’ doors will be subject to the same overall tariff rate that their country of origin has been slapped with, or close to it, meaning pretty much anything you order could cost you at least 10% more than it does now.—ML