On Wednesday, Hong Kong announced that it was suspending package shipments to and from the United States, in a move seen by many as a way of sticking it to the current US administration and its escalating tariff onslaught. The decision came in response to Trump’s plan to “eliminate the so-called de minimis exception for items posted from the city to the US. The exemption applied to international shipments worth $800 or less entering the US.”
While the suspension will no doubt come as a shock to some buyers who routinely like to purchase items from Hong Kong sellers because of cheaper prices than their US counterparts, it will almost certainly harm Chinese sellers too who rely upon the service to get their products into the hands of US buyers. Needless to say savvy sellers will find ways around this obstruction such as first shipping their wares to Singapore and then on to the US, but the added cost of trans shipping may be enough to discourage their US customers from making further purchasing moves.
