88 postal operators suspend US mail services after tariff changes: UN

Postal traffic to the United States has collapsed after Washington imposed new tariff rules, the Universal Postal Union (UPU) said on Saturday.

According to the UN agency, 88 postal operators have either fully or partially suspended services to the US. Traffic dropped by 81 percent on August 29 compared to the previous week.

The disruption followed US President Donald Trump’s late-July announcement abolishing a tax exemption on small packages entering the country from August 29.

The policy change sparked immediate reactions from postal services worldwide. Operators in Australia, Britain, France, Germany, India, Italy, and Japan said most US-bound packages would no longer be accepted.

“These efforts caused major operational disruptions,” the UPU said. The agency explained that the new US rules shifted responsibility for collecting customs duties to transport carriers or “qualified parties” approved by US Customs and Border Protection.

“Carriers, such as airlines, signalled they were unwilling or unable to bear this responsibility,” the UPU noted. Postal operators, it added, had not yet established connections with approved parties.

UPU Director General Masahiko Metoki said the organisation was working on “the rapid development of a new technical solution that will help get mail moving to the United States again.”

The agency is preparing a “Delivered Duty Paid” system that will be integrated into its customs declaration platform. It will allow postal operators “to calculate and collect the required duties from customers at origin,” the UPU said.

Meanwhile, a calculator is already available through a software interface that can be plugged into postal retail and counter systems.

The UPU confirmed that operators from 78 UN member states — including two in Bosnia and Herzegovina — and nine other territories such as Macau and the Cook Islands have halted services.

Metoki has also written to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to convey member countries’ concerns.

Over the past year, US-bound mail made up 15 percent of global postal traffic. Of that, 44 percent came from Europe, 30 percent from Asia, and 26 percent from other regions. Most of it was small packages, often linked to e-commerce.

The UPU, founded in 1874 and based in Bern, Switzerland, counts 192 member states. It sets international mail rules and makes recommendations to improve postal services.