UPU Terminal Dues Reform

The 2019 reform ended much of the postal pricing advantage that let small parcels from China reach US doors for less than domestic postage. Under the old system, terminal dues paid to the delivering post were set by the UPU and were low for many exporting countries. The United States filed notice of withdrawal in October 2018, and at an extraordinary congress in Geneva in September 2019 members agreed to allow self-declared rates, which the US could begin applying in July 2020. The US then stayed in the UPU. For US sellers, cheap cross-border postal shipping became less of a price threat.

• De MinimisValue limit for duty-free imports
• Landed CostTotal cost to get a product ready to sell

• Heinrich von Stephan1831–1897 · Founder of the Universal Postal Union

• Universal Postal Union (UPU)1874 · A treaty sets shared rules for international mail
• ePacket2011 · Cheap tracked postal shipping from China to the US
• U.S.-China Trade War2018–2020 · Section 301 tariffs hit most imports from China

1. Third Extraordinary Congress of the Universal Postal Union (Cyprus Post) cypruspost.post
2. Q and A on the ballot for a third extraordinary congress (Universal Postal Union) upu.int
3. United States remains in the UPU, rescinding its notice of withdrawal (American Journal of International Law, Cambridge) cambridge.org