After India and Europe, Taiwan's national postal service suspends mail operations to US

TAIWAN'S national postal service, Chunghwa Post, suspended all commercial mail operations to the United States on Monday, 25 August 2025, after the Western nation ended its duty exemption for international postal items, reported the news agency Reuters.

According to the agency report, the suspension of the commercial operation will be effective from Tuesday, 26 August 2025, after which the national postal service of Taiwan will neither accept nor deliver any mail to the United States. 

The nation's move comes as the Trump administration-led United States terminated its global “de minimis” exemption, effective 29 August 2025. This rule exempted the low-value items from the customs duties charges while entering the Western nation.

This move comes after India and Europe suspended all State-owned postal service operations to the United States.

US terminates 'de minimis' exemption

The United States federal administration on 30 July 2025 announced that the duty-free goods valued up to $800 will be withdrawn with effect from 29 August 2025.

This order means that all international postal items which are coming into the United States will be subject to customs duties as per the country-specific International Emergency Economic Power Act (IEEPA) tariff framework. 

Transport carriers that deliver their shipments through the international postal network are required to collect and remit duties on postal shipments.

India suspends postal services to US

Mint reported earlier on Saturday, 23 August 2025, that the Government of India's Department of Posts had announced temporarily suspending all types of postal articles to the United States.

However, the official announcement also said that the temporary suspension will be in effect except for the letters or documents and gift items which have a value of up to $100.

“The Department of Posts has decided to temporarily suspend booking of all types of postal articles, destined for the USA, with effect from 25th August, 2025, except letters/documents and gift items up to $100 in value,” said the Government of India's Department of Posts.

The department also said that the customers who have already booked their parcels for the United States will have to claim a refund for their bookings.

Europe suspends postal services to US

On 24 August 2025, the news agency AP reported that European postal services had paused their deliveries to the United States as the tariff exemptions on their deliveries to the Western nation had ended.

The report added that multiple international postal services impacted by the end of an exemption on tariff duties for low-value packages into the US have halted shipping as they await more clarity on the rule.