India will temporarily suspend postal deliveries to the United States, the government said Saturday, citing confusion stemming from tariffs imposed by president Donald Trump.
The move comes less than a week before the Trump administration鈥檚 decision to strip certain low-value parcels of their duty-free treatment goes into effect.
India鈥檚 communications ministry said the executive order issued last month requires transport carriers or other 鈥榪ualified parties鈥� approved by US authorities to collect and remit the tariff duties.
But 鈥榮everal critical processes relating to the designation of 鈥榪ualified parties鈥� and mechanisms for duty collection and remittance remain undefined,鈥� the ministry said in a statement.
鈥楥onsequently, US-bound air carriers have expressed their inability to accept postal consignments after 25th August, 2025, citing lack of operational and technical readiness.鈥�
As a result, India鈥檚 department of posts will temporarily suspend bookings of 鈥榓ll types of postal articles鈥� destined for the United States from Monday except letters, documents and gift items of up to $100 in value.
鈥楾hese exempt categories will continue to be accepted and conveyed to the USA, subject to further clarifications from CBP and USPS,鈥� the ministry said, adding that 鈥榚very effort is being made to normalise services鈥�.
The move follows similar steps taken by postal services and mail carriers across Europe.
On Friday, the postal services of Germany and France announced a raft of restrictions on package deliveries to the US.
DHL, which owns the Deutsche Post service, said that from Saturday it would 鈥榯emporarily suspend鈥� its standard category of US package delivery, the preferred option for many small businesses.
鈥楾he reason for the restrictions, which we expect to be temporary, is new processes for postal delivery which have been put in place by the US authorities,鈥� DHL said in a statement.
鈥業mportant questions have not yet been answered, including who will have to pay the tariffs and how,鈥� it added.
France鈥檚 La Poste told AFP it would suspend from Monday package deliveries to the US, except for gifts sent by individuals with a value of less than $116.
It said the new rules had been issued only on August 15, 鈥榣eaving European postal services with an extremely limited timeframe to get prepared.
鈥楳oreover, their related documentation still requires further clarification,鈥� La Poste added in a statement.
Each year the French service sends 1.6 million packages on average to the United States, 80 per cent from businesses and 20 per cent from individuals.
Other European postal services, including in Belgium, Austria and Denmark, have already taken similar measures.
In late July the Trump administration said that as of August 29 it would abolish a tax exemption on small packages entering the US.
Such packages with a value of less than $800 will now be taxed at 15 per cent, the same rate as other imports from the European Union.
That general tariff rate was agreed under a deal struck between Brussels and Washington late last month.
In April, DHL said it was suspending delivery of packages to the United States with a value in excess of $800.
It cited changes to US Customs rules as part of Trump鈥檚 trade war, which lowered the threshold at which parcels to individuals require formal entry processing by US Customs to $800 from $2,500 鈥� leading to significant delays.