National postal services around the world have suspended the shipment of business packages to the US, blaming the removal of the ‘de minimis’ exemption and poor communication around new rules.
Additionally, US president Donald Trump has threatened two more sets of tariffs on his social media platform, European Commission (EC) president Ursula von der Leyen defends her deal with the US and the French government is on the verge of another collapse.
Package shipment suspension
Over the weekend, a number of national postal services have said they are suspending the delivery of business packages to the US, citing Trump’s withdrawal of the de minimis exemption.
National postal authorities in Germany, Spain, Japan, France, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Switzerland have said they will be pausing the shipment of packages.
DHL Group said in a press statement that there would be “temporary restrictions” on postal goods sent to the US from Germany as a result of the suspension. While letters would still be sent, business customer parcels will not be accepted. Items sent from one individual to another must be declared as a gift and be less than US$100, the company said.
Spain’s postal service, Correo, said on Sunday (24 August) that all shipments of merchandise to the US and Puerto Rico would be subject to tariffs, depending on the country of origin and the value of the product. The suspension, it said, would last until the “appropriate solution has been developed and implemented” for sending packages to the US.
France’s La Poste said that “Despite discussions with US customs services, no time was provided to postal operators to re-organise and assure the necessary computer updates to conform to the new rules”, according to France24.
Von der Leyen defends deal
Von der Leyen has strongly defended the EU’s trade deal with the US in a series of articles for major European papers, after criticism from former European Central Bank chief, Mario Draghi.
“Much has been written about this agreement, considerations that deserve a direct response," von der Leyen wrote in Italian paper IlSole24ore, "imagine for a moment if the two largest economies in the democratic world had failed to reach an agreement and had started a trade war”.
“This would have been celebrated only in Moscow and Beijing.”
The EC president appeared to be indirectly responding to Draghi, who authored a major report earlier this year on the EU’s competitiveness problem. Draghi told the influential Rímini meeting in Italy that this was the year when Europe’s illusion of political power and influence on trade “evaporated”.
“We have had to resign ourselves to major tariffs imposed on us by our largest trading partner and long-standing ally, the US,” Draghi said, also pointing to perceived European weakness over the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
“Europe is ill-equipped in a world where geo-economics, security, and stability of supply sources, rather than efficiency, inspire international trade relations.”
In her editorials, von der Leyen pointed to her efforts to diversify trade, including trade deals and negotiations in South America and Asia, as well as the recent EU-UK summit.
Trump threatens digital services and furniture
The US president has also threatened another round of tariffs, this time against nations that impose digital rules he deems “discriminatory” to American companies.
“With this TRUTH, I put all Countries with Digital Taxes, Legislation, Rules, or Regulations, on notice that unless these discriminatory actions are removed, I, as President of the United States, will impose substantial additional Tariffs on that Country's Exports to the U.S.A., and institute Export restrictions on our Highly Protected Technology and Chips,” he said on his social media platform.
The US has been at loggerheads with the EU over rules on US tech firms for weeks, with claims of censorship by Silicon Valley and Washington.
Reuters reported yesterday (25 August) that Trump officials were considering sanctions on officials implementing the European Digital Services Act.
The UK also levies a digital services tax. This was raised as an issue by the US during trade negotiations, although never addressed in the deal the two countries eventually agreed.
In a separate post on social media, Trump announced a tariff investigation into furniture imports.
French government collapse
Another week, another possible collapse of the French government.
Current prime minister, François Bayrou, has called a high-stakes confidence vote for 8 September. At the centre of the vote is his budget cuts, which aim to trim €43.8bn worth of public spending.
Amid warnings that the IMF might step in if the government were to fall, French borrowing costs rose and stocks experienced a second day of sell-offs, according to the FT.
Opposition parties, including the Greens, the centre-left Socialists and the far-right National Rally, have already said they would vote to bring the government down.
If confirmed, this would leave French president Emmanuel Macron choosing his fifth PM since January 2024.
Also in the news
· On Friday (22 August), Canadian PM Mark Carney said he would drop some of his country’s retaliatory tariffs, following a phone call with Trump
· An influx of Australian meat imports is hitting UK domestic production, agricultural groups told the FT
· The UK’s scrap steel industry has called for the removal of a ban on scrap steal exports, while the steel production sector urges the government to limit this trade amid expectations that domestic demand could rise, according to the Guardian
· The FTSE 100 fell amid a global market selloff, while UK gilt yields rose to their highest level since 1998, according to Bloomberg
Last week in trade
· Experts from the Chartered Institute of Export & International Trade gave member-exclusive advice on navigating the de minimis changes
· Export control and sanctions experts explained how the Trump White House is changing its approach to economic security
· The UK steel industry saw another government takeover announced, after Liberty Steel collapsed into administration
