If you live in the United States and are hoping to receive a package from overseas, you may have a problem on your hands pretty soon.

The Trump administration has made a policy change that will make it difficult or impossible for many people to receive items from countries throughout Europe.

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In fact, as of August 26, a number of countries outside of the U.S. are now refusing to ship most packages, and more countries will soon follow their lead. This could be a big problem for consumers across the United States who are used to the flexibility to order from just about anywhere, which is a big perk of having free trade.

Unfortunately, the pipeline of foreign goods is being shut down rapidly, and consumers will pay a big price for it.

Postal services in several European countries will pause shipment of many packages to the United States.

Image source: Bloomberg/Getty Images

These countries will no longer ship most packages to the United States

The issue that’s arising is that many foreign postal services are now saying they will not ship many packages to the United States. In fact, here are the postal services that have currently announced that shipment of most packages to the U.S. is being paused.

• Germany
• Denmark
• Sweden
• Italy
• France
• Austria
• United Kingdom

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Many of the postal services within these countries have released statements warning of the change. 

For example, Poste Italiane said in a statement, “In the absence of different instructions from U.S. authorities … Poste Italiane will be forced, like other European postal operators, to temporarily suspend acceptance of all shipments containing goods destined for the United States, starting August 23. Mail shipments not containing merchandise will continue to be accepted.”

More countries are likely to pause U.S. shipping

Although many postal services in the EU have already spoken out about ending shipments of merchandise, this is not the end of the road, either.

An association of 51 European public postal operators, PostEurop has made clear that its members plan to end shipments of merchandise to the U.S. if a solution is not found by August 29.

And it’s not just postal services. DHL, the largest shipping provider, also said in a statement that it “will no longer be able to accept and transport parcels and postal items containing goods from business customers destined for the U.S.”

A federal rule change could make buying from abroad impossible

The reason many foreign postal services are now saying they won’t ship business packages or merchandise to the U.S. is simple: The de minimis exemption is going away.

The de minimis exemption makes it possible for small-value goods to ship into the United States without incurring extra duties (taxes and fees). Under the de minimis exemption, packages under $800 could enter the country duty-free.

The U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Agency reports that 1.36 billion packages were sent in 2024 using the de minimis exemption. The goods sent in these transactions were worth $64.6 billion.

This exception is ending as a result of a change in policy from the Trump administration.

It’s unclear exactly how and when duties will be collected

Added duty fees alone would probably not cause the end of so many shipments to the U.S., but the problem is that the rules are not clear about:

• What kind of goods are covered by the new rules
• How the duties will be collected.

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DHL made clear that this confusion is causing it to stop shipments. “Key questions remain unresolved, particularly regarding how and by whom customs duties will be collected in the future, what additional data will be required, and how the data transmission to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection will be carried out,” DHL, the largest shipping provider in Europe, said in a statement.

La Poste, France’s national postal service, made a similar statement. ″Despite discussions with U.S. customs services, no time was provided to postal operators to re-organize and assure the necessary computer updates to conform to the new rules,″ it said in a statement.

It remains unclear whether the U.S. government will take steps to help ensure the uninterrupted flow of goods from our European neighbors. 

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