Hongkong Post has fired back at the United States, calling its latest round of tariffs “unreasonable, bullying, and abusive,” as the trade tensions between Washington and Beijing continue to escalate.
While April 2 may have been dubbed “Liberation Day” in the US, for much of the world, it marked the escalation of a brewing tariff war — with China among the hardest hit.
US President Donald Trump recently announced a staggering 145% tariff on Chinese goods. In response, China implemented its own retaliatory measures, slapping 125% tariffs on American products and barring Chinese airlines from completing any pending jet orders with Boeing.
Now, Hongkong Post has joined the fray, announcing it will suspend all postal services containing goods to the United States. The move comes after Washington revealed plans to eliminate duty-free de minimis treatment for parcels sent from Hong Kong and to increase tariffs on postal items starting May 2.
In a strongly worded statement published on its official website, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government condemned the new policy, stating:
“The United States’ decision to remove the de minimis treatment and impose increased tariffs on postal items from Hong Kong is unreasonable and constitutes bullying. Hongkong Post will not collect any so-called tariffs on behalf of the US and will suspend the acceptance of postal items containing goods destined for the United States.”
The suspension applies to all items containing goods — but what about regular surface and air mail not subject to customs duties? The release does not clarify whether standard correspondence or documents will be affected, leaving room for speculation on the full scope of the postal freeze.
Trump? Unreasonable? (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Well, ‘due to the longer shipping time’ of surface mail, Hongkong Post said it ‘will suspend the acceptance of surface postal items containing goods destined to the US with immediate effect (April 16)’.
“Where senders have posted surface postal items containing goods that have not yet been shipped to the US, Hongkong Post will contact the senders to arrange for return of items and postage refund starting from April 22,” it added.
For air mail, ‘Hongkong Post will suspend the acceptance of air postal items containing goods destined to the US starting from April 27’.
