BERLIN: Germany’s postal service has announced temporary restrictions on package deliveries to the United States following new tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump.
DHL, which operates Deutsche Post, will temporarily suspend its standard package delivery service to the US starting Saturday.
“The reason for the restrictions, which we expect to be temporary, are new processes for postal delivery which have been put in place by the US authorities,“ DHL said in a statement.
“Important questions have not yet been answered, including who will have to pay the tariffs and how,“ it added.
Other European postal services in Belgium, Austria and Denmark have already implemented similar delivery restrictions.
DHL confirmed that a more expensive express service for packages up to seventy kilograms will remain available.
Individual customers can still send gifts valued under one hundred dollars but these will face additional checks to prevent commercial use.
The Trump administration announced in late July that it would eliminate tax exemptions on small packages entering the US effective August twenty nine.
Packages worth less than eight hundred euros will now face a fifteen percent tax matching other EU import rates.
This general tariff rate was established through an agreement between Brussels and Washington last month.
DHL had previously suspended deliveries of packages valued over eight hundred euros to the United States in April. – AFP
