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Casablanca – France’s state-owned La Poste has suspended business parcel shipments to the United States starting Monday, joining postal operators across Europe that are halting deliveries ahead of steep new US import tariffs.
Only gifts sent by individuals and valued under $100 will continue to be shipped, La Poste said, citing a lack of clarity from US authorities on how the new tariffs will be enforced.
The decision follows similar moves by Germany’s Deutsche Post, Denmark’s PostNord, Sweden’s postal service, and Italy’s Poste Italiane, which all stopped accepting most US-bound merchandise over the weekend.
The disruption stems from a decree signed by US President Donald Trump last month, ending the exemption that allowed goods worth less than $800 to enter the US duty-free. Starting August 29, those shipments will instead face a 15 percent tariff, the same rate now applied to most European Union products.
Postal operators say they were given little time to adapt to the new rules. La Poste stressed that US customs confirmed the changes only on August 15, leaving “an extremely limited timeframe to reorganize” systems and procedures.
“Despite discussions with US customs services, no time was provided to postal operators to reorganize and assure the necessary computer updates to conform to the new rules,” the French operator said in a statement.
European operators said letters, books, and gifts under $100 would still be accepted but warned of tighter checks to prevent commercial shipments being disguised as personal parcels.
DHL, which owns Deutsche Post, said that “key questions remain, particularly regarding who will have to pay the tariffs and how, what additional data will be required, and how data will be transmitted to US Customs.”
The uncertainty has alarmed small businesses, which rely heavily on affordable, low-value shipments to reach American customers. Analysts say the sudden end of the exemption will disproportionately harm small and medium-sized European exporters of lower-value goods.
Read also: Trump Slaps 50% Tariffs on Indian Exports Over Russian Oil
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