The international courier DHL on Friday joined other European mail carriers that have put temporary restrictions on sending packages to the United States because of President Trump’s executive order that eliminates an exemption on duties on the import of cheap goods.
The temporary halt by DHL’s German parcel service, and its domestic mail service, Deutsche Post, covers commercial shipments originating in Germany to consumers in the United States. The company will continue to send private packages as long as the content is worth no more than $100 and labeled a gift. More valuable items, including commercial packages, can be sent through DHL Express, a more expensive service that includes commercial customs services.
“The suspension was implemented because there is simply so much uncertainty and companies are afraid that we will incur very high follow-up costs,” said Sebastian Kummer, the head of the Institute for Transport and Logistics Management at Vienna University of Economics and Business. Such costs could include storage or return shipments if U.S. Customs does not accept the packages.
The move by one of the world’s largest courier companies comes amid similar suspensions by national postal services in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Norway and Sweden as well as shippers in Asia. For many of the European shippers, the number of commercial packages that are affected is much lower than for their Asian counterparts.
The halt is the direct result of one of the battles in the trade war, specifically, the attempt to curb the use of a loophole that allowed predominantly Chinese retailers to sell their wares directly to consumers in the United States, without incurring extra costs.
Under the current rules, which will end Aug. 29, packages valued at $800 or less can be sent to the United States without facing customs dues under a system called the de minimis exemption, which has been in place since 2016, when it was raised from $200, to essentially prevent enforcement from costing more than the duties it brought in.
The Trump administration initially targeted China and Hong Kong when it closed the loophole in the spring, only to suspend enforcement to let U.S. Customs and Border Protection figure out systems to deal with the change. With large e-commerce retailers like Shein and Temu selling to American customers, China was the origin of many of the more than four million small packages that were imported daily to the United States tax-free. The value of the packages typically averages just over $50, and use of the loophole grew after Mr. Trump increased tariffs on Chinese goods during his first administration.
In a statement, DHL blamed the halt on “key questions” that remain unresolved since Mr. Trump signed his executive order last month. Among those questions are “how and by whom customs duties will be collected in the future, what additional data will be required, and how the data transmission to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection will be carried out,” DHL said in its statement.
Besides costing nothing to import, the packages are convenient because they can be sent without any customs paperwork, something that will change under the new rules.
The postal suspensions could lead to an enormous buildup of packages similar to the ones seen when the Trump administration briefly closed the loophole for packages coming from China and Hong Kong earlier this year.
Like other couriers, DHL insisted that the halt was temporary, and experts like Professor Kummer believe it is a matter of months before rules governing paperwork and fees are clear enough for companies resume their services.
Christopher F. Schuetze is a reporter for The Times based in Berlin, covering politics, society and culture in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
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