Australia Post has suspended most parcel postage to the US ahead of new tariffs on low-value parcels, with businesses wanting to ship to American customers now unable to use the government-owned carrier. Some online retailers had pre-empted issues with sending goods to the US and stopped shipping there in recent weeks, as global postal services described “chaos”.
The postal service has taken the extraordinary step to halt many forms of postage to the US, as a Trump administration tariff on low-value parcels is due to come into effect within days. Australian businesses selling to American customers will be blocked from shipping to the US via Australia Post from today.
The government-owned postal service joins other global carriers in taking this step, ahead of new levies beginning on Friday, August 29. It will continue shipping letters and documents to the US, along with packages that are declared as gifts and are worth less than $US100 ($153).
“We are disappointed we have had to take this action,” Australia Post executive Gary Starr said in a statement. The halt will largely impact businesses that ship goods to retail customers in the US, including those using Business Contract and MyPost Business.
Australia Post’s decision is effective immediately, from August 26, and is until “further notice”. “Australia Post continues to work with US and Australian authorities and international postal partners to resume postal service to the US as a priority,” Mr Starr said.
Australia Post’s suspension of most shipments to the US follows the Trump administration axing the “de minimis” exemption. Until now, parcels of goods worth less than $US800 ($1,230) were not taxed when they arrived in the US — an exemption relied upon by many Australian retailers to send items to the US duty-free.
The tax exemption is due to end on August 29 for imports from all countries globally, with low-value parcels to be slugged with tariffs or flat fees. The decision — formalized in an executive order on July 30 — has caught many postal operators globally off guard.
Australia Post already halted transit shipping to the US last week, impacting countries that used Australia as a bypass to get parcels to the United States. Its latest decision comes after growing stress and confusion from Australian retailers ahead of the August 29 deadline.
International delivery service FedEx said it would be “business as usual” for its customers come August 29. “The American market is the number one market in world trade terms,” FedEx’s regional vice president Peter Langley told ABC News.
Australian courier company Sendle has “temporarily suspended services” to the US ahead of August 29. In a statement, it said the end of the de minimis threshold was creating “a great deal of uncertainty and a risk for merchants”.
“If a parcel is delayed and gets caught in the transition, a small business could face a large bill that they can’t pass on to their customer,” Sendle chief executive James Chin Moody said. “This is why many carriers, including Sendle, have temporarily suspended services.”
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