Recent increases in the de minimis exemption have greatly affected U.S. postal traffic. That’s left us weathering an unprecedented 80% decline in mail volume. On that date—August 29, 2025—we put into effect new regulations. Low-cost imports worth $800 or less now require customs vetting — a loophole that has allowed a great deal of these items to flood the U.S. without any sort of clearance. The administration points to some foreign companies abusing this exemption to avoid tariffs. This spurred a major change in policy.
Our outdated de minimis exemption has been around since 1938. It further permits such purchases to bypass customs processing upon entering the U.S. This transformation is a paradigm shift from past practices. Now, each good coming into the U.S. will be proactively subjected to differing tariffs depending on its country of origin, with rates falling at arbitrary levels of 10 percent to 50 percent. While experience from this pandemic is still being documented, many foreign postal operators have suspended their services to U.S. This has contributed to “significant operational impacts,” in the words of the Universal Postal Union (UPU).
Airlines and other carriers have indicated that they are unwilling or unable to collect duties on these low-cost imports. First, foreign postal operators have not established the required connections with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)-approved intermediaries. This lack of connections further cripples the duty collection process.
The UPU followed that letter with another letter to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. They stated grave fears over how these changes would affect the viability of international mail services. As a result, 88 postal operators worldwide have suspended partial or total mail services to the United States due to these regulations. They’ll keep doing so until we can come up with a better alternative that works.
Today, the White House and partner organizations shared some of that good news with people across the U.S. First, you will not be charged duties on gifts coming in worth up to $100 and receive personal keepsakes from abroad duty-free up to $200.
“The global network saw postal traffic to the U.S. come to a near-halt after the implementation of the new rules on Aug. 29, 2025, which for the first time placed the burden of customs duty collection and remittance on transportation carriers or U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency-approved qualified parties,” – UPU
