An employee of French postal service La Poste sorts packages at a terminal in Toulouse, November 26, 2020. LIONEL BONAVENTURE / AFP
The postal services of France and Germany announced a raft of restrictions on package deliveries to the United States on Friday, August 22, due to tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump.
France's La Poste told AFP agency it would suspend package deliveries to the US from Monday, except for gifts sent by individuals with a value of less than €100. It said the new tariff rules had been issued only on August 15, "leaving European postal services with an extremely limited timeframe to get prepared," La Poste said in a statement, adding, "Related documentation still requires further clarification." Each year, La Poste sends an average of 1.6 million packages to the US, 80% from businesses and 20% from individuals.
DHL, which owns Germany's Deutsche Post service, said that from Saturday it would "temporarily suspend" its standard category of US package delivery, the preferred option for many small businesses. "The reason for the restrictions, which we expect to be temporary, are new processes for postal delivery which have been put in place by the US authorities," DHL said in a statement. "Important questions have not yet been answered, including who will have to pay the tariffs and how."
