Hong Kong’s postal service announced on Wednesday that it will no longer handle parcels from or to the United States, as tensions between Washington and Beijing rise over President Donald Trump’s “retaliatory” tariffs.
The government of China’s special administrative zone has announced that Hongkong Post will reject US-bound surface mail goods effective immediately, while air mail items will be rejected beginning April 27.
It further stated that Washington would end “duty-free de minimis treatment” for postal items sent from Hong Kong to the US and raise taxes on postal items containing commodities beginning May 2.
“The US is unreasonable, bullying and imposing tariffs abusively. Hongkong Post will definitely not collect any so-called tariffs on behalf of the US and will suspend the acceptance of postal items containing goods destined to the US,” it said in a statement.
Hong Kong Post will contact the senders of items sent via surface mail that have not yet been sent to arrange returns and reimbursements.
Meanwhile, the administration cautioned that the public could expect to pay “exorbitant and unreasonable fees” when sending things to the United States. Postal items that exclusively contain documents will be unaffected.
Last week, Trump stated that duties on small parcels shipped from mainland China and Hong Kong to the United States would be raised from 90% to 120%.
US tariffs on Chinese exports, including those from Hong Kong, have now risen to 245%, while China’s retaliatory penalties on American imports are currently at 125%.
