3 ms·
All part of this: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/26/postal-services-suspend-us-usa-deliveries-how-will-it-affect-you https://www.theguardian.com/u
by frereubu 1y ago
All part of this: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/26/postal-services-suspend-us-usa-deliveries-how-will-it-affect-you https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/26/postal-servi...
"Suspensions including from Australia and Europe come after Donald Trump removed a rule exempting parcels worth less than US$800 from his tariffs."
(For some reason this isn't showing the full article to me in Firefox with uBlock Origin. There's more info here that works with that setup - https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/aug/25/postal-services-in-europe-suspend-parcel-shipments-to-us-amid-uncertainty-over-tariffs https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/aug/25/postal-serv...).
- shafoshaf 1y agoTo be fair, China has been widely abusing the <$800 rule for a number of years. And it really wasn't not helping either economy. Temu routinely employs forced labor and worse to give those super low prices that US companies can't compete with. https://youtu.be/quGoGgbP-aE?si=FL8pgTssEwn5qEvS&t=387 https://youtu.be/quGoGgbP-aE?si=FL8pgTssEwn5qEvS&t=387
- sschueller 1y agoYes, but it's the receiver that is supposed to handle the tariff not the sender.
- coliveira 1y agoSince when forced labor was a problem for Americans? We know for decades that Diamonds are extracted with forced labor, many imported agricultural products like coffee, clothing, etc. use forced labor/minors/slave-like conditions. The US never stoped buying these products because of such issues.
- UncleSlacky 1y agoNot to mention the domestic prison-industrial complex: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prison%E2%80%93industrial_complex https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prison%E2%80%93industrial_comp...
- runako 1y agoUS companies also have access to locally-sourced forced labor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Prison_Industries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Prison_Industries There must be some other reason Temu is able to sell goods at lower prices, especially now that China is not a particularly low-wage country.
- semiquaver 1y agoNo, that is the de minimis exemption repeal. This is due to a series of new tariffs on copper and other metals which is unusual (and nonsensical) in that it applies to the metal content of finished and semi-finished products. The de minimus rule exempted low value individual products sent directly to consumers, but this metal tariff affects all importers, unless they deal in one of the carved-out product categories.
- frereubu 1y agoAh, thanks for pointing that out - I thought it was all part of the same deal.
- koshergweilo 1y agoThey removed the de minimis exemption the day before they announced the tariffs so it's conflated all the time, but they are technically different policies enacted with separate executive orders