Postal traffic to U.S. hit standstill with Trump's tariffs for small packages

• The Universal Postal Union has since stepped in with a digital tool to help shippers more easily calculate the required duties.

Catch up quick: Global tariffs on packages worth less than $800 went into effect Aug. 29. Previously, those packages had been excused under the "de minimis" exemption.

• Trump previously ended the de minimis exemption on packages from China, hitting major retailers like Shein and Temu.
• Ending the exemption means companies and consumers must now pay more to bring those products into the U.S.
• 88 global postal operators told the Universal Postal Union they had suspended or restricted services to the U.S. as a result.

Our thought bubble: The White House is adamant foreign postal services have failed to do their jobs, not properly inspecting or classifying parcels and allowing drugs and counterfeit goods to flow unchecked to the U.S., according to Axios' Ben Berkowitz.

• But the change to de minimis rules appears to be keeping literally millions of packages a day out of the country, cutting off small businesses and hobbyists alike.
• If those packages aren't coming, it will also blow a hole in the administration's estimated $10 billion in annual tariff revenue from such shipments.