“Effective February 5, 2025, the Postal Service will continue accepting all international inbound mail and packages from China and Hong Kong Posts. 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,” says a message on the USPS website, posted just minutes prior to the previous version of this story, which was sourced from an AP article about how customers of ultra-low-quality e-commerce giants Shein and Temu would be affected, with the AP noting that the two brands are “popular with younger shoppers in the US for cheap clothing and other products, usually shipped directly from China,” and that Shein was going to be more affected than Temu given the former’s far more heavy reliance on individually fulfillment via standard mail.
The USPS policy was part of the tariffs convicted felon President Trump imposed on China. Whether the reversal means the whole tariff regime is scrapped is unclear as of yet. Stay tuned for the cave.