The initial suspension was based on new tariffs on China

CNN reported that the Postal Service initially halted incoming packages from China late Tuesday night following President Donald Trump’s new tariffs. However, an online update on Wednesday confirmed that parcel and international mail deliveries would resume.

“The Postal Service will continue accepting all international inbound mail and packages from China and Hong Kong Posts,” the update said.

It also stated that “the USPS and Customs and Border Protection are working closely together to implement an efficient collection mechanism for the new China tariffs to ensure the least disruption to package delivery.”

Shein and Temu affected by removal of de minimis exemption

Trump’s new 10% tariff increase on China would also eliminate the de minimis exemption, which allows anyone to ship packages worth less than $800 duty-free and without inspections in the United States, per CNN.

Two major e-commerce companies, Shein and Temu, based in China, would have been affected by the initial suspension as they benefit from the exemption. The policy allowed over a billion low-cost products to be shipped to the U.S., enabling consumers to purchase affordable clothing and household goods.

“This is a significant challenge for them because there were 4 million de minimis packages per day in 2024, and it is difficult to check all the packages — so it will take time,” Chelsey Tam, senior equity analyst at Morningstar, wrote in a research note obtained by CNN.

Beijing responds to new tariffs

According to CBS News, Beijing responded Tuesday to Trump’s new 10% tariffs on Chinese goods with its own retaliatory tariffs.

China announced that beginning Monday, it will impose a 15% tariff on coal and liquefied natural gas and a 10% tariff on crude oil, agricultural machinery and large-engine vehicles imported from the U.S.

Trump and some Republican lawmakers have been vocal about fentanyl usage in the U.S. and have accused the Chinese Communist Party of intentionally exporting the drug to compromise the U.S., according to the New York Post.

China’s foreign ministry responded to this accusation in a Sunday statement obtained by the Post: “China is one of the world’s toughest countries on counternarcotics both in terms of policy and its implementation. Fentanyl is an issue for the U.S. [sic],” the ministry said in the statement.

“The U.S. [sic] needs to view and solve its own fentanyl issue in an objective and rational way instead of threatening other countries with arbitrary tariff hikes,” the statement continued, demanding that the Trump administration  “promote the steady, sound and sustainable development of China-U.S. [sic] relationship.”