Shipping to the USA (updated 1st Sept. 2025)

Short version: Don’t worry! I am sending to the USA as before. You don’t need to do anything and you won’t pay anything extra.

Slightly longer version: Even though tariffs are now due on all items sent to the USA, I am using a new service from Royal Mail which lets me pay all of the relevant tariffs and fees up front. This ensures that you still won’t have anything to pay when you receive the item, just like before.

If you really want to bore your pants off, here’s the in-depth story of what’s been happening.

Summary

Until 29th August 2025, something called the “de minimis” rule declared that any item sent to the USA with a value of under $800 was exempt from any tariffs and you (the recipient) did not have to pay anything to receive it. Now, after some changes in the rules, “de minimis” is no more and everything is subject to tariffs. (With the minor exception of genuine gifts valued under $100.)

There is a lack of information available online, plus a lot of conflicting/misleading information, so I figured I’d write out my own thoughts on everything.

I’m not a lawyer, import/export expert or postal system worker so what I’ve written here is based purely on my own interpretation of what I’ve read or have been told by various people/companies. There is much confusion over the whole situation at the moment so don’t be surprised if things change again in the future.

What is an import?

Any item brought into the country from another country. If you (USA) buy a pencil from me (UK), the pencil is the import.

Who is the importer?

It might be surprising, but you are (most generally) not actually the importer. (The technical term is the “importer of record”.) The importer is the person or company bringing the item into the country. In the case of items sent by either the postal service or a carrier, they are the importer (e.g. Royal Mail, UPS, FedEx…). They’re the ones who have to deal with US Customs, provide all the paperwork, and pay any import tariffs.

Now, if you personally arrange for a shipment of 500 washing machines to be delivered from a container ship to the dockside at the Port of Baltimore then yes, you are indeed the importer and will have to deal with things directly. However, we’re talking about a few pencils sent by the postal system, not 500 washing machines!

What is a tariff?

(The terms tariffs/duties/fees are used somewhat interchangeably, unfortunately)

Paraphrasing Wikipedia: A tariff is a tax imposed by a national government (in this case, the USA) on imports of items and is paid by the importer. So, if I send a pencil to the US through the post using Royal Mail, then Royal Mail are the importer and they will have to pay US Customs whatever is required. Royal Mail (or whatever delivery service used) then have to decide how to pass on that cost - see next.

DDU versus DDP/PDDP

If the costs are passed on to you, the recipient, then the delivery process is termed “Delivered duty unpaid” or DDU. This is by far the most common sort of delivery. You will receive a note saying that you have to pay a certain amount to the delivery service and once that’s paid, you get your item. (Just to confuse things further, Royal Mail will pass the item on to USPS, so you would be getting a note from USPS asking for payment, not Royal Mail). The payment will usually include some sort of handling fee, which is frequently extortionate.

If the delivery service passes the costs on to me, the sender, the delivery process is called “Delivered duty paid” or DDP (sometimes “Postal Delivered Duties Paid” or PDDP). This is not nearly as common, but is far more beneficial from your point of view because you don’t have to pay anything.

What was the “de minimis” exemption?

De minimis non curat lex. The law does not concern itself with trifles. (Wikipedia). Essentially, it said that for any item valued under $800, the amount of work involved in collecting and processing any tariffs wasn’t worth the trouble and so these items would be exempt from tariffs.

What happened?

Executive Order 14324 suspended the de minimis exemption for all countries (it had previously been suspended for China & Hong Kong). All imports, with the exception of gifts valued under $100 and a few other minor things, are now subject to tariffs.

US Customs published a notice of how they plan to implement this executive order. Of most relevance is this part:

Such international postal shipments shall be subject to one of the following two duty rates as elected by the carrier:

1. Ad valorem Duty: An ad valorem duty equal to the total effective tariff rate under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), termed the “effective IEEPA tariff rate,” [2] that is applicable to the country of origin of the product and assessed on the value of each dutiable postal item (package) containing goods entered for consumption.

2. Specific Duty: A specific duty assessed on each package containing goods entered for consumption, based on the effective IEEPA tariff rate applicable to the country of origin of the product as follows:

(i) Countries with an effective IEEPA tariff rate of less than 16 percent: $80 per item;

(ii) Countries with an effective IEEPA tariff rate between 16 and 25 percent (inclusive): $160 per item; and

(iii) Countries with an effective IEEPA tariff rate above 25 percent: $200 per item.

and a little further on:

All carriers delivering shipments to the United States through the international postal network, .... , must collect and remit to CBP either the ad valorem or the specific duty.

So the carrier (again, e.g. Royal Mail, UPS, FedEx…) decides what duty rate they’re going to apply, is responsible for collecting the money (from the sender or recipient, as in the DDU/DDP section above) and then passing it on to US Customs.

I was initially extremely concerned to read about the “Specific Duty” rate - who in their right mind is going to pay $80 (or more) per item?!? However, the Specific Duty rate only seems to be present for a six-month period, after which the only rate applicable is the Ad valorem Duty rate, based on a percentage of the value of the item. Unfortunately, some websites have pounced on the wording of the Specific Duty rate and are posting shock headlines about how “everyone is going to have to pay up to $200 per item” and so on. This really does not seem to be the case. I cannot find any explanation of why the Specific Duty rate was included - who thinks on such a crazy idea?

This leaves the Ad valorem Duty, which requires a little diversion into IEEPA.

What tariffs will be applied? HTSUS versus IEEPA tariffs

There’s a thing called the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). It’s an enormous database of different kinds of items, identifying codes and what tariff rate would normally be applied. For example, you can go look up code 9608.40.40.00, which is “Propelling or sliding pencils (for example, mechanical pencils): With a mechanical action for extending, or for extending and retracting, the lead”. This is the code I use for sending my pencils. The associated tariff rate is 6.6%.

However, the HTSUS tariffs were essentially overridden by Executive Orders 14257 and 14326. Both of these invoked the IEEPA act to impose “reciprocal” or “baseline” tariffs on a range of countries. For example, the UK is 10%. If the HTSUS tariff is lower than the IEEPA tariff, as it would be in this case, then the IEEPA tariff takes precedence. So said pencil will have a tariff of 10% applied.

So how is something actually sent? Royal Mail’s new DDP service

I use Royal Mail to send nearly everything (I only occasionally use UPS if something needs to arrive in a hurry). For international shipments, I use their “International Tracked” service. Royal Mail have recently added the option of DDP delivery, specifically for the USA. This means I can pay for the 10% tariff fee up front so you don’t have to pay anything.

What happens now?

Given the somewhat unpredictable nature of the whole tariffs situation (e.g. a court recently ruled that most of the tariffs were illegal), it’s more than likely that things might change again in several months’ time. We’ll just have to see. However, I’ll always try my best to ensure that you’re not burdened with any extra expense.