The United States Postal Service announced on Tuesday it will temporarily suspend international package acceptance of inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong Posts “until further notice.”
The suspension, which takes effect immediately, was announced via a statement on the USPS website.
Officials noted the flow of letters and flats from China and Hong Kong would not be impacted.
AUTOMOTIVE GROUPS REACT TO TRUMP TARIFFS ON IMPORTS FROM CANADA, MEXICO, CHINA
On Feb. 1, President Donald Trump signed an executive order imposing an additional 10% tariff to address the alleged synthetic opioid supply chain in China.
The order accused the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) of having “subsidized and otherwise incentivized” Chinese chemical companies to export fentanyl and related precursor chemicals that are used to produce synthetic opioids sold illicitly in the U.S.
Synthetic opioids kill approximately two hundred Americans per day, and related overdoses are the leading cause of death for people aged 18 to 45 in the U.S.
Trump noted many of those companies “go to great lengths to evade law enforcement and hide illicit substances in the flow of legitimate commerce.”
Techniques include concealing the true contents of the packages and the identity of the distributors by using re-shippers, false invoices, fraudulent postage, and deceptive packaging, according to the order.
CHINA THREATENS TO RETALIATE AGAINST TRUMP TARIFFS
Right after the tariffs went into effect, China’s Finance Ministry announced it would impose a tariff of 15% for coal and liquefied natural gas and 10% for crude oil, agricultural equipment and large-engine cars imported from the U.S., effective Feb. 10.
China also launched an anti-monopoly investigation into Alphabet Inc’s Google and included both PVH Corp., the holding company for Calvin Klein and other brands, and U.S. biotechnology company Illumina on its “unreliable entities list,” Fox News Digital previously reported.
China’s Commerce Ministry will also impose export controls on some rare earths and metals that are critical for high-tech gadgets and the clean energy transition.
Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion contributed to this report.
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