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DHL Group and DHL Parcel Germany are temporarily suspending the shipment of parcels and postal items to the U.S. as the country prepares to close off the duty-free de minimis provision on Aug. 29.
Last month, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to suspend the trade exemption, which allowed for international shipments worth $800 and under to be shipped into the U.S. tax-free.
The Trump administration’s changes affect all postal and parcel service providers worldwide.
DHL’s move went into effect Friday, following announcements from multiple European parcel shipment companies that have also paused shipments.
U.K.-based postal service Royal Mail, Norwegian postal group Posten Bring, Swedish-Danish group PostNord and Belgian group Bpost and Austrian Post all recently announced the halt of U.S.-bound parcel shipments ahead of the late-August deadline.
U.S.-based marketplace Etsy is following their lead, suspending shipping label purchases for Australia Post, Canada Post, U.K.-based last-mile delivery firm Evri and Royal Mail for U.S-bound packages.
As for DHL, packages and parcels that contain gifts from individuals to individuals with a value of up to $100 and are declared as “gift,” as well as documents, can continue to be sent as usual.
Shipping via DHL Express remains possible, the company said.
DHL’s press release highlighted some of the confusion logistics companies are experiencing as the new de minimis rules come into play, particularly when it comes to customs clearance for goods entering the U.S.
The company said it began restrictions due to new processes required by U.S. authorities for postal shipping, which differ from the previously applicable regulations.
Key questions remain unresolved, according to DHL, particularly regarding how and by whom customs duties will be collected in the future, what additional data will be required, and how the data transmission to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will be carried out.
DHL already experienced a similar scenario earlier this year ahead of the closure of the de minimis provision for parcels out of China on May 2. In the weeks ahead of the suspension, delays at U.S. customs processing points had gotten so out of hand that the logistics giant halted business-to-consumer (B2C) shipments of more than $800 into the country.
That judgment wasn’t made due to the de minimis changes, but rather a temporary policy decision by the CBP that brought down the threshold requirement for a parcel to go through formal entry processing from $2,500 to $800. This meant more packages required additional documentation, like the consignee’s tax identification number.
DHL reversed course on the high-value shipment suspension in late April after the CBP raised the threshold back to $2,500.
U.K. shippers await possible changes to low-value imports policy
While DHL and other logistics companies maneuver through the ongoing customs clearance changes in the U.S., they may have to consider the possibility that other markets like the U.K. could make their own policy changes on customs.
In April, the U.K.’s Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) began a review to determine whether packages valued at 135 pounds ($183) or less should be able to be imported duty-free.
Fashion retailer Next and grocer Sainsburys have spoken out against the provision, saying it allows foreign businesses to undercut them and other U.K.-based importers.
U.K. parcel delivery service ParcelHero acknowledged that the country may need to follow in American footsteps by scrapping the low-value imports threshold. In a Wednesday press release, the company cited data from the government’s tax collecting department, His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), that low-value imports escalated 53 percent in the year ended April 2025.
ParcelHero’s head of consumer research, David Jinks, said many Chinese manufacturers and sellers had “seen the writing on the wall” based on President Trump’s rhetoric in the months ahead of the May 2 U.S. cutoff, leading to the exporters targeting other markets such as the U.K.
“The price of not scrapping the U.K. de minimis limit is likely to be higher than doing it,” Jinks said. “It’s no coincidence that companies such as Claire’s Accessories U.K. have fallen into administration at this time. Having to compete with a surge in low-value goods from China could spell disaster for many other U.K. companies if it is allowed to continue for long.”
The European Union has already proposed to withdraw its value-added tax (VAT) threshold of 150 euros ($176) in 2028, with the blog debating a 2-euro blanket fee, or similar alternative, on every package arriving in the markets.
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