MUMBAI – India will temporarily suspend postal deliveries to the US, the government said on Aug 23, citing confusion stemming from tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump.
The move comes less than a week before the Trump administration’s decision to
strip certain low-value parcels
of their duty-free treatment goes into effect.
India’s communications ministry said the executive order issued in July requires transport carriers or other “qualified parties” approved by US authorities to collect and remit the tariff duties.
But “several critical processes relating to the designation of ‘qualified parties’ and mechanisms for duty collection and remittance remain undefined”, the ministry said in a statement.
“Consequently, US-bound air carriers have expressed their inability to accept postal consignments after Aug 25, 2025, citing lack of operational and technical readiness.”
As a result, India’s department of posts will temporarily suspend bookings of “all types of postal articles” destined for the US from Aug 25 except letters, documents and gift items of up to US$100 (S$128) in value.
“These exempt categories will continue to be accepted and conveyed to the USA, subject to further clarifications from CBP (US Customs and Border Protection) and USPS (United States Postal Service),” the ministry said, adding that “every effort is being made to normalise services”.
The move follows
similar steps taken
by postal services and mail carriers across Europe.
France’s La Poste told AFP it would suspend most package deliveries to the US from Aug 25.
It said the new implementation rules were issued by the CBP on Aug 15, “leaving European postal services with an extremely limited timeframe to get prepared”.
The Trump administration has said that it would abolish a tax exemption on small packages entering the US from Aug 29. AFP
