Trump pauses de minimis repeal as packages pile up at US customs

US President Donald Trump paused his administration's repeal of duty-free treatment of low-cost packages from China on Friday, giving the Commerce Department time to make the order workable, after the rapid change caused chaos at customs, postal services, and online retailers.

The cancellation of de minimis means low-value e-commerce packages arriving in the US from China must use the "formal entry" process that requires additional information and duties before entering the country, a much more time-consuming process.

The change, implemented with just 48 hours' notice, caused the US Postal Service to temporarily stop accepting packages from Chinese mainland and Hong Kong earlier this week.

US Customs and Border Protection, which has the job of screening e-commerce packages and collecting duties on them, on Thursday held a meeting with logistics professionals to discuss the status of more than a million packages piling up at New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport, according to a source familiar with the meeting.

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