1. Removal of de minimis / low-value duty free exemption. Plenty of countries have very low thresholds to start collecting sales tax on imports. A moot point as a lot of platforms (Etsy/Amazon/Ebay/Aliexpress/Temu) charge the destination's US/EU/Aus sales taxes already. Usually a higher threshold to start collecting duty. Duty is much more cognitively difficult to assess. Historically, sales taxes were more than duty for most items anyway. US is now another exception here.
2. US not accepting "duty-unpaid" postal shipments. This is VERY unusual.
As of today, I can walk into the post office and send a parcel to any country in the world. The destination customs will figure out if/what duty/taxes are owed and collect it from the recipient. I don't need to know, nor care, what the rates are in Zimbabwe, Pakistan, Colombia or San Marino. The buyer should know and can complain to their gov if it's unreasonable/incorrect.
Next month, USA will be the sole exception to that. Air freight to USA is going to get a lot cheaper if anyone is looking.
> US not accepting "duty-unpaid" postal shipments. This is VERY unusual.
To maintain the illusion that the sender pays for tariffs?
Keep receipts and customs declarations on everything imported. There's a lawsuit underway and it may well be decided that Trump doesn't have the authority to levy tariffs at all under the Emergency Economic Powers Act. In that case, importers will be due a refund.[1]
The Constitution says that Congress sets tariffs and the Emergency Economic Powers Act doesn't mention tariffs. As usual, Trump's strategy is to stall, probably until 2026 when this is expected to reach the Supreme Court. Congress could enact Trump's tariff schedule to resolve this, but that would lock it into law.
> To maintain the illusion that the sender pays for tariffs?
I think it’s both that and the overwhelming reluctance to tell (and perhaps hire more) people carrying guns in an already safe and secure area to do (paper)work.
Similar issue in Canada where border officers allegedly do enforcement and provide services but want to focus on the “bad guy” enforcement part. Helping people out or sending bills to grandma wasn’t what they were promised when they signed up.
This is why New Zealand's police recruiting ad[0] a few years back was so brilliant. They used humor to intentionally de-select this "warrior cop" mentality, and emphasize public service instead.
The dutch army did something similar in one of their ads. They had a whole series of ads where they showed a short skit illustrating some property they do or don't want in the army. Then the ad shows two checkboxes, "suitable" / "unsuitable", with one of them getting colored in. This[0] specific one from that series is quite explicitly showing they don't want people who like "playing" with guns too much.
There's a compilation here[1] in case anyone wants to see some more. Most of them don't require any language and are decently funny.
Surely you want to select for warrior cops especially in a place like the USA to be able to handle things like school shooters and violent meth heads?
Is it better to hire a diplomat and make them a warrior or hire a warrior and make them a diplomat? When lives are on the line id choose the later tbh.
As Uvalde showed us, in extreme situations we need professional, competent cops, not (wannabe) "warriors."
The warrior cop mentality is the worst combination: it teaches police to be simultaneously afraid of their own shadows and belligerent and trigger-happy. The all-too-predictable result is that they escalate and shoot innocent people in nonthreatening situations, and then fail to lay down fire when it actually is life-or-death.
1. Removal of de minimis / low-value duty free exemption. Plenty of countries have very low thresholds to start collecting sales tax on imports. A moot point as a lot of platforms (Etsy/Amazon/Ebay/Aliexpress/Temu) charge the destination's US/EU/Aus sales taxes already. Usually a higher threshold to start collecting duty. Duty is much more cognitively difficult to assess. Historically, sales taxes were more than duty for most items anyway. US is now another exception here.
2. US not accepting "duty-unpaid" postal shipments. This is VERY unusual.
As of today, I can walk into the post office and send a parcel to any country in the world. The destination customs will figure out if/what duty/taxes are owed and collect it from the recipient. I don't need to know, nor care, what the rates are in Zimbabwe, Pakistan, Colombia or San Marino. The buyer should know and can complain to their gov if it's unreasonable/incorrect.
Next month, USA will be the sole exception to that. Air freight to USA is going to get a lot cheaper if anyone is looking.