An aerial view of a cargo cargo cargo container at the Baltimore port in Baltimore, Maryland, August 7, 2025.
Jim Watson | AFP | Getty images
Postal carriers across Europe plan to suspend certain expeditions to the United States while nations are preparing at the end of a long-standing commercial rule.
Certain expeditions to Germany, Spain, France, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Switzerland should be interrupted in the coming days and weeks after President Donald Trump signed a decree putting the end of the exemption from “Minmis”.
Commercial policy, sometimes called “escape”, has enabled shipments of less than $ 800 to penetrate the United States practically frankly. The practice should end for imports from around the world Friday following Trump’s decree.
The minimis exemption for goods from China and Hong Kong, which has long taken into account most of these expeditions, ended in May.
The suspensions will have an impact on shipments worth $ 800 and will largely exclude gifts and letters. Most countries said they had to interrupt shipments because their systems were not built for new requirements and that they do not know how to properly process shipments under new rules.
In a press release on Friday, the international navigation company based in Germany, DHL, said that Deutsche Post and DHL Parcel Germany could no longer accept and transport parcels intended in the United States, he declared that “key questions remain unresolved, in particular with regard to the way and the way in which customs tasks will be obtained in the future, additional data will be necessary, Personalities and the protection of American borders will be necessary. “
Customers will always be able to ship goods via DHL Express, which is more expensive.
National post offices in Spain, France and Belgium have published similar opinions.
In a press release, the National Post Office of Spain Correos said it had learned the detailed requirements necessary to comply with the decree of August 15 and had not had enough time to change its systems.
“This situation obliges Correos, as well as all postal operators that manage expeditions intended in the United States, to considerably modify their processes and to increase shipping controls to implement new customs requirements, which has a significant impact on international postal logistics and electronic commerce flows,” said Correos, adding suspension on Monday.
He said he was working to take up the expeditions “as quickly as possible”.
The Belgian Post Office said that it suspended shipments from Saturday while France La Poste said that shipments would be suspended from Monday.
Meanwhile, Finland’s post office ceased to accept goods for the United States on Saturday, but later added that it could no longer accept gifts or letters, because “several airlines have now refused to transport postal items to the United States”.
The carriers said They expect the suspensions to be temporary. Breaks could delay certain expeditions, but should not affect most international businesses.
The largest retailers, both national and international, do not tend to use the minimis exemption only often because they ship their goods via containers to American warehouses and pay prices on goods. Two major exceptions are Temu and Shein, which popularized the use of Minmis and counted for most of their shipments to American consumers. Since the end of Minmis for the goods shipped from China, demand has dropped for Shein and Temu as prices have increased.
Suspended expeditions should have an impact on the small orders of Americans who shop directly in small European companies.