India Post is temporarily halting most postal services to the United States from August 25, 2025, due to changes in US customs rules that require duties to be collected on all postal items, even low-value ones. The suspension, effective from August 25, excludes letters, documents, and gift items valued up to $100, which remain duty-free. The halt is a response to the US administration’s decision to remove the duty-free de minimis exemption for goods under $800, leading to a lack of clarity on operational readiness and duty collection mechanisms for postal carriers.
The new US executive order requires designated “qualified parties” to collect and remit duties on all incoming parcels, but the specifics of these agencies and the collection mechanism remain undefined, creating confusion for postal carriers. Because the operational and technical details for duty collection are still unclear, US-bound air carriers have stated they are unable to accept postal consignments.
India Post is closely monitoring the evolving situation and is working with stakeholders to normalise services as soon as possible. Customers can seek a refund for already booked articles that cannot be dispatched.
However, there seems to be no early resolution of postal services to U.S. as trade talks between U.S. and India have been stalled indefinitely. Soon postal services from U.S. to India would also be affected as they may involve monetary limits that are prohibited by current or future U.S. laws.
As per the reliable sources of Analytics Wing of Sovereign P4LO, U.S. is contemplating taking suitable taxation, trade related and non trade barriers oriented actions against posts originating from U.S. and meant for India says Praveen Dalal.