Us Postal Service Says It Will 'continue Accepting' Parcels From China And Hong Kong In Quick Reversal
The US Postal Service said Wednesday it would 'continue accepting' parcels from China and Hong Kong, having said it would temporarily stop the day before.
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- The US Postal Service has said it will resume handling parcels from China and Hong Kong.
- It announced the reversal around 12 hours after saying it would temporarily pause handling them.
- It said it would work with the Customs and Border Protection to "ensure the least disruption."
The US Postal Service has reversed its position on parcels from China and Hong Kong, saying it will continue accepting them.
It had announced Tuesday evening it was temporarily suspending handling these parcels, in a move that stood to hurt Chinese e-commerce retailers.
USPS said on Wednesday it would "continue accepting all international inbound mail and packages from China and Hong Kong Posts."
"The USPS and Customs and Border Protection are working closely together to implement an efficient collection mechanism for the new China tariffs to ensure the least disruption to package delivery," it added.
The reversal came about 12 hours after USPS announced it would stop handling the parcels.
When it announced the suspension, which did not apply to letters or flat mail, it did not give a specific reason.
It came after President Donald Trump imposed a new 10% tariff on all goods imported from China from midnight ET Tuesday.
He also ended the de minimis exemption which allowed packages worth less than $800, bound for individual consumers, to avoid tariffs.
One economist said Tuesday that China and Hong Kong accounted for 67% of packages entering the US under the de minimis exemption between 2018 and 2021.
Chinese e-commerce retailers like Shein and Temu stood to lose from the USPS decision to suspend handling parcels from China.
Temu's parent company, PDD Holdings, was down in premarket trading on the Nasdaq Wednesday morning before the USPS announced it would resume handling parcels. The stock began to recover after the reversal.
In 2023, the GOP-led House Committee on the Chinese Communist Party found Temu and Shein were "likely responsible" for more than 30% of de minimis shipments into the US.