Unable to Buy Directly from Temu... US Temporarily Suspends Processing of Packages Sent from China

US Postal Service Temporarily Halts Parcel Acceptance
Move Seen as Targeting Chinese Firms Such as Temu and Shein

The United States Postal Service (USPS) has temporarily suspended the processing of parcels coming from China and Hong Kong, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ). This move is interpreted as targeting Chinese e-commerce companies such as Temu and Shein.

On the 4th (local time), USPS announced on its website that "Starting February 4th, the Postal Service will temporarily suspend the acceptance of international parcels sent from China and Hong Kong post offices until further notice," adding that "letters sent from China and Hong Kong will not be affected."

WSJ explained that this measure is intended to curb loophole abuses following the Trump administration’s imposition of new tariffs on China and the exemption from tariff payments for companies directly shipping low-value goods under $800 to consumers.

Previously, the U.S. imposed an additional 10% tariff on China and stated that it would not apply the "de minimis exemption" to China. Chinese e-commerce companies like Shein and Temu, which mainly handle low-priced products, had effectively dominated the international trade market by exploiting this provision. Thanks to this exemption, U.S. consumers were able to purchase Temu products without additional costs.

According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the number of transactions using this system in the 2024 fiscal year is approximately 1.36 billion, more than double the 637 million transactions in the 2020 fiscal year. This is why criticism has been raised that Chinese e-commerce companies like Temu are selling goods to Americans without paying tariffs by using the tariff exemption.

However, experts expect the impact of this measure to be limited since many companies have left USPS for international shipping in recent years. Large corporations such as Apple operate their own flights to transport goods from China to the United States.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.