February 7, 2025
HONG KONG – Hongkong Post said late on Thursday it would continue to suspend postal goods to the United States, despite the United States Postal Service (USPS) having reversed a decision to suspend parcels from the Chinese mainland and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).
A spokesman for the HKSAR Government said, “Hongkong Post has been communicating with the postal administration of the United States, but there are still matters that need further clarification, including the request of the United States for the imposition of additional duty”.
The move by USPS on Tuesday to stop accepting parcels from the Chinese mainland and HKSAR had caused chaos and confusion among retailers and express shipping firms over how to deal with US President Donald Trump’s new 10 percent tariff on imports from China.
The HKSAR has also been subjected to the same tariffs according to a US government notice that stated: “Articles that are the products of China, which hereinafter will include products of Hong Kong … will be subject to the additional ad valorem rate of duty”.
USPS later reversed the 12-hour suspension after Trump scrapped an exemption used by retailers to ship low-value packages duty-free to the US.
The HKSAR Government said in a statement that it “reiterates its strong disapproval of the United States’ imposition of additional duty on products of Hong Kong” and “urges the United States to take urgent actions to rectify its wrongdoing, so as to avoid causing confusion and inconvenience to the public owing to its constantly changing policies”.