(Temporary) Suspension Of Post To USA Containing Goods

rogdcam - Yes there is the problem people will overreact as the 800 de minimus rexemption limit is about 9 years old. The arguement it is abused ho;ds some water as well as many other countries have far lower de minimus limits. After August 29th the limit will return to $200.

However, there were much better options than rolling back to the 2016 level. The problem with Trump's directive is the cost goes directly to the consumer as it increases costs for sellers now dealing with more paperwork than before. It also reduces their volume of business. While it was abysed the majority of imports under $800 were likely legitimate.

And I may be entirely correct about the World Stamp Show in Boston. With the internet dealers will by then have reduced their exposure to the US market and with tariff's raising the expense of many goods, and a President who has chosen to increase military presence in a few cities already and ICE being to ready to lock people up on minor immigration infractions, the US doesn't seem that welcoming for foreign business. Of course, the large scale dealers may come as they can handle the cost and beauracracy but say someone such as Bombay Philatelics which sells stamps from many countries of the world but is a small to medium size operation, may have them choose to close shop and the World Stamp Show a lost opportunity.

As for the negative effects of the tariffs, I don't think everyone that was against them said by now we would be in economic trouble. But certains show the economy weakening - tepid jobs report, rising interest rates on borrowing as shown by consumer credit APRs rising now to around 23%, and rising prices in many consumer categories.

I hope rogdcam you are correct that some of us are overly pessimistic, but it is still early and there are economic signs things won't be that rosy in the ensuing months.

"A clever financial writer picked up on this and wrote the article terming the strategy "The Taco Trade" This was news about a month or two ago."

Clever investing but GMC89 neglects to define "Taco Trade" which of course has nothing to do with Mexican foods (!), but stands for "Trump Always Chickens Out." That, of course, refers to Trump's habit (so far) of announcing tariffs and then delaying them or cancelling them. He seems to think the threat is good enough. Tariff policies like these helped destroy the world's economy in the 1920s and 30s and they were one major factor that lead to World War II if anyone cares. That's basic History 101 (and I teach history). Maybe someone in the Trump Administration should have hired someone who knew that?

Waving around tariffs as threats destabilizes world trade more and more until you get the sort of thing we're seeing now with this remarkable increasingly worldwide ban on sending small packages to the U.S. How do we benefit in any way from this?

Whether this is about fentanyl coming from Canada or not hardly matters to all the business people who will surely end shipments to Americans. Also who fights importation of fentanyl this way? It seems like killing a mosquito with a flame thrower. If Canada is the source of much of our fentanyl -- and it's not (One Source: "Most illicit fentanyl in the U.S. is clandestinely produced by Mexican drug cartels, primarily using chemical precursors from China. These cartels then smuggle the finished product across the U.S.-Mexico border.") -- then you would think more careful processing of small packages from Canada would be the appropriate approach.

Since fentanyl actually comes across our southern border, not from Canada, why not process those shipments more slowly and carefully? As for China, they deserve special treatment, and I would not mind if all "small packages" from China were banned for some period of time -- and perhaps a much more thorough processing system instituted for Chinese shipments. Add a China-only tax to each package to pay for this. Maybe add $5 to be paid by the shipper to each Chinese package? That doesn't bother me.

Apparently you can drive up and down one-way streets in the US.




The whole issue is with mail entering the US, not with mail coming out of the US. The legislation does not apply to mail coming out of the US. The suspension of service relates to small parcels being sent to the US, not those received from the US.

And those selling to US customers, yes they will be hit as they are on one end of that street. Collectors outside the US may even benefit as they no longer have to compete against US collectors.

Having waded through all these comments, including the legalese explaining the tariffs, I can assure you of one thing -- most small to medium sized sellers -- without legal departments to advise them -- are simply going to stop shipping to U.S. customers. None of these people are doing to try to decipher the ever-changing world of Donald Trump's tariffs. It's a brain-busting headache that makes little to no sense. The idea of making up tariffs when you're in the mood to do that, then maybe postponing them or maybe not, and in the process disrupting much of the world's economy like this is about the most juvenile thing I've ever encountered. If I sold stamp products outside the U.S., I'd just hold off on selling to any Americans for awhile.

As for the world stamp expo and other such gatherings, they seem likely to become very watered down and attendance will be way off what was hoped for. I may not go and I was looking forward to going. If relatively few foreign dealers show up, what is the point? Why would anyone hold an international gathering in the U.S. these days if people are reluctant or fearful of coming here?

There's some talk about moving even more of the upcoming World Cup (soccer) games out of the U.S. into Canada and Mexico (which are also participating along with the U.S.) in order to avoid problems with foreign players being harassed by U.S. border agents and other such issues. Will any teams simply refuse to come to the U.S.? Will individual players refuse to come? What if there are international incidents? Talk about making your country look bad.

I'd expect other large worldwide events may also become much more reduced in attendance -- like the Olympics in Los Angeles. They could be moved elsewhere, too, if the world gets too fed up with this nonsense. Athletes don't want to be repeatedly searched and inspected or held at the border-- and what if ICE harasses or seizes some athletes as "illegal" for some reason? I wouldn't put that past them, given their current track record. Will ICE patrol the Olympic venues? Talk about making this country look bad in the eyes of the world. There was some France-bashing during the very good Paris Olympics some of which was apparently not to some Americans tastes. Imagine the U.S. bashing that's to come. Why do we think that won't happen? Let's make ourselves look like complete idiots.

As for stamp collecting, imagine if foreign stamp dealers are held at the border for a long time or otherwise harassed? What if CBP seized some dealers' material? Do you think border agents have even the slightest understanding of stamps and coins? I don't. That could be a big mess. If that is a fear dealers have, why would they come here? It 's not always about the reality of what will happen, but about what people fear might happen. One predictor is that tourism is way down to the U.S.

This is just all so depressing. I feel like we're in some kind of alternate universe run by lunatics with no ability to think through what they are doing followed by no ability to explain it clearly. "Ignore the man behind the curtain." It's being made as they go along -- and then they try to pretend it all makes good sense. No one does world trade policy this way. It's like having junior high school students running our trade policy. Why should any foreign government or ordinary seller put up with this?

Meanwhile, in case you're not watching carefully, this gives a green light to other trading countries (like China) to expand their worldwide trade in place of U.S. trade. Who in the Trump Administration could not have figured that might happen -- if it even occurred to them. Which it seems not to have.

Chaos is the feature, not the bug.

Seriously, if you think this is about fentanyl I have a bridge in S Louisiana to sell you.

Look at Qatar, a country that bought the FIFA World Cup, executes gays and abused foreign workers building the stadiums. There have been European football associations that proposed not competing, there were that proposed wearing the rainbow band to protest against the violation of human rights.

None of it happened.

The International Hockey Federation came up with the dumb idea to hold some hockey tournaments in the same region where they cannot tell a hockey stick from a Christmas tree. The same issues arose. One of our national team's goalies expressed her disgust with this. The hockey federation went ahead with this idea anyway.

It takes three or four European teams both in football and in hockey to refuse to compete to relegate these tournaments to a circus of dummies messing around with a ball. It just does not happen and the players just accept that.

No team will refuse to go to the USA, no athlete will refuse to go.

My information is that even large scale dealers are changing plans about coming to Boston. If you were planning to bring $1M in stamps to the show but have to pay the tariff up front with no guarantee of a rebate, would you bother to show up?

They are all sold out but they have more on backorder.

This mess under development is bad for the hobby, bad for our US friends, I feel sorry for them.
I have already stopped purchasing from USA dealers, cancelled my plans for attending Boston 2026, and do not plan to visit the "once friendly country" as long as it is "governed" by such a "bully" to be polite.
Business remains pleasant and friendly with Canadian and EU dealers and auction houses. One day, we will return to do business with our USA friends, but will have to be a bit patient. Lets weather the storm for now

Don't remember any negative comments about the previous POTUS. Must have been a paradisical reign.

There were plenty of negative comments made about the previous POTUS, but the reasons were VERY different. That should be obvious.

Agreed. I don't think anyone can 100% agree with every action of every POTUS. I'm just glad we still live in a society where comments and opinions are allowed without extreme repercussions from those in power that disagree with those comments. Then again, there's always next week ...

Alas, that totally depends on who is making the comments at this point. There are plenty of occasions where that has not been true recently.

An open letter to the admins: Why do you allow this?
NONE OF THESE RECENT POSTS PROVIDE ANY DIRECT ADVANCEMENT OF THE DISCUSSION OF THE TARIFF SITUATION.
Don Denman would have handed out 3-5 day posting suspensions for the continued off-topic posting.

Won't you ever give your sanctimonious sermonising on digression a rest?