April 20 (UPI) — DHL Express announced it will suspend deliveries of more than $800 in response to cost increases and U.S. Customs regulations brought on by the Trump administration’s tariff plan.
“This change has caused a surge in formal customs clearances, which we are handling around the clock,” the company said in a release.
DHL said the deliveries will stop temporarily on Monday “until further notice,” it said, adding that business-to-business shipments will continue but may face delays.
Previously, shipments of up to $2,500 were allowed to enter the United States with little paperwork, but starting Monday, the threshold will be lowered.
The company said it is working to “scale up and manage this increase,” but that “shipments worth over $800, regardless of origin, may experience multi-day delays.”
Lowering the threshold for tariffs targets the so-called “de-minimis” rule, and will affect companies such as Temu and Shein that ship inexpensive items from China to the United States — both companies have already said tariffs will raise prices in the United States.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order to eliminate the rule, which the White House has said is “addressing the synthetic opioid supply chain,” which it has said has played “a significant role in the synthetic opioid crisis in the US.”
Beijing has said the opioid crisis is a problem of the United States’ making and countered that China has the strictest drug policies in the world.
DHL, one of several shipping companies making changes to its operations based on United States tariff policy, is based in Germany.
