Hong Kong Post Suspends All Package Shipments To The U.S.

Topline

Hong Kong Post on Wednesday announced it was suspending shipment of all packages to the U.S. as a result of the Trump administration’s tariffs and the removal of an exemption that allowed lower value shipments to the U.S. duty free.

Hong Kong’s postal service said April 16 it will stop shipping goods bound for the United States in … More response to “bullying” tariff hikes by US President Donald Trump.

AFP via Getty Images

Key Facts

Authorities in Hong Kong said Wednesday the city’s postal service will stop accepting surface shipments “destined to the US with immediate effect.”

For items sent by air mail, Hong Kong Post will stop accepting goods destined for the U.S. starting April 27.

The city’s officials attacked President Donald Trump’s 145% tariff on all imports from China—which also applies to goods from the semi-autonomous city—saying: “The U.S. is unreasonable, bullying and imposing tariffs abusively.”

The Hong Kong officials said the city’s postal service will “definitely not collect any so-called tariffs on behalf of the U.S.” and therefore it has decided to halt all outbound shipments.

Goods that have been sent to Hong Kong Post but not yet been shipped to the U.S. will be returned to the senders, who will be refunded the postage amount.

Other postal items, including documents and letters, will not be impacted by this.

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What Is The De Minimis Exemption?

The “de minimis” provision was a special exemption granted to shipments entering the U.S. that were valued at $800 or less. Items covered under this provision could be shipped to the U.S. without duties or certain taxes. In January, Customs and Border Patrol reported it had processed at least 1.36 billion de minimis shipments in the fiscal year 2024, a nearly ten-fold increase from 2015. While the report did not mention how much of these de minimis shipments came from China, a study commissioned by the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party found nearly half of all “de minimis” shipments entering the U.S. originated from China.

How Has The Trump Administration Changed The De Minimis Provision?

Earlier this month, Trump signed an executive order to eliminate the provision for imports coming from China and Hong Kong. The initial announcement said these goods would face a tariff rate of 30% starting May 2, but this number has since been raised to 120%, or face a per postal item fee of $100—which will increase to $200 in June.

Crucial Quote

The announcement ended with a warning: “For sending items to the US, the public in Hong Kong should be prepared to pay exorbitant and unreasonable fees due to the US’s unreasonable and bullying acts.”

Tangent

The move is likely to have a major impact on Chinese e-commerce platforms that relied heavily on both the de minimis exemption and Hong Kong post to ship products to the U.S. American-listed shares of PDD Holdings, the parent company of Temu, was down 1.50% in early trading Wednesday. Shares of Hong Kong-listed Chinese e-commerce giants like Alibaba and JD.com were also hit—falling nearly 4.1% and 5.5% respectively.

Hong Kong Post Suspends All Package Shipments To The U.S.—Blames ‘Unreasonable’ Tariffs