Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Suspension of inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong

about.usps.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

531–540 of 610 posts

Re: Suspension of inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong

#531

Post by Symbiote »

reaperman wrote: post #235
nico wrote: post #93

The speed at which all of this is happening is astounding Is this all improvised or was there a big list of stuff to do ahead of time? If the latter, does anyone have a copy of that list? Alternatively, is anyone keeping track of what's already been done so far?

This is (probably?) related to the de minimis exemption, so here is the section of Project 2025 which provides bullet points for dealing with that: - Stop Communist China’s abuse of the so-called de minimis exemption, which allows it to evade the tariffs for products valued at less than $800. - Reinvigorate and expand the DHS crackdown on the CCP’s use of e-sellers (including third-party sellers) and the shippers and…

Some of this was already done by the EU and UK in the last few years. The de-minimis exemption equivalent was removed [1], but with over a year's notice which allowed time for logistics companies and their clients to develop software to pay the required taxes. (If I browse Ali Express from Denmark, I see prices including 25% Danish VAT.)

The next step seems to be starting this week [2].

[1] https://taxation-customs.ec.europa.eu/customs-4/customs-proc...

[2] https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/feb/05/eu-to-tight...

Re: Suspension of inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong

#532

Post by Symbiote »

reaperman wrote: post #194
hpone91 wrote: post #133

Looks like everything will be hit by the MPF What is a Merchandise Processing Fee? The Merchandise Processing Fee (MPF) is a user fee that the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) charges. It is charged in addition to US Customs duty as an ad valorem tax at a rate of .03464%. It is calculated as a percentage of the value of the shipments shown on the invoice, also known as the Customs appraisement. This user fee ca…

Just to be clear - if I order $5 of LED's from China, I now have to pay at minimum $37.71 instead of $5?

Ordering from Denmark, a medium or larger retailer in China would collect the Danish VAT (25%) and send that to the Danish tax authority. They'd mark the package with a transaction id for this, and it would go through EU customs without any further charges. (Presumably they still scan it for guns etc, and make random checks that these packages are labelled correctly.)

Goods ordered without using this system would be charged the 25% plus a handling fee, which is about $20 here.

However, the EU gave the logistics companies and retailers over a year to get these systems in place. The USA is taking a different approach.

Re: Suspension of inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong

#535

Post by Symbiote »

guerrilla wrote: post #389
qwertox wrote: post #348

EU should do the same. They're essentially performing a Bureaucratic Denial-of-Service attack on customs and tax authorities.

We already have in Sweden, years ago. I thought that was all of the EU. Really fucked up my electronics hobby.

It was indeed the EU, it was the end of the low-value goods exemption if you want to search for it.

I avoid shopping from China on principle, but if ordering from Ali Express or similar you shouldn't have any problems. Of course, you pay 25% VAT on your purchases.

Re: Suspension of inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong

#536

Post by adultSwim »

daveguy wrote: post #515
adultSwim wrote: post #500

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like negotiating.

Trump couldn't negotiate his way out of a paper bag. All a despot has to do is compliment him and he will repeat whatever they want. It's pathetic.

[flagged]

Re: Suspension of inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong

#537

Post by roamerz »

jaredklewis wrote: post #294
roamerz wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>The idea that China is a major security threat is basically brand new You're kidding right?

No. I guess it’s a matter of degree but my memory of the 90s, 00s and even early 2010s the middle east and North Korea both received far more attention from the press and politicians than China. China seemed to be on a trajectory towards a free market and less repressive government. I don’t feel like the current “cold war” esque situation set in until the late 2010s but maybe I’m wrong? What’s your take?

You're right it's definitely a matter of degree. And I would have to say early 2000 when Clinton signed the trade agreement with them. That is when our manufacturing capacity started moving to China and with that our security. It's of course way more complex than that but..

Re: Suspension of inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong

#538

Post by p_j_w »

jdietrich wrote: post #397
pclmulqdq wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most US-based PCB manufacturers can do low-volume PCBs rather cheaply for you, but not quite at China prices. AdvancedPCB in the US has their "$33 each" which gets you a very quick turnaround on a pretty-good-tech 2-layer board for $100 total (minimum 3 boards). They do 4-layer PCBs for $66/board and they apparently also do RF materials for $100/board. Sierra Circuits, for example, also has similar prices. This is a…

"Not quite at China prices" is something of an understatement. JLCPCB offer five 100mm*100mm 4-layer boards for $7. Not $7 each, $7 total for five boards. Shipping to Europe is $1.50.

For a company doing R&D, this difference is so small it hardly matters. It's less than an hour of an engineer's time.

Re: Suspension of inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong

#539

Post by zxilly »

vaccineai wrote: post #312
elfbargpt wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They expected China to grow in a way that would lead to the "west" exerting much more control over China than they ended up with today. Basically they wanted more western-style capitalism, reduction of state control, etc... Now China is very strong, and the west exerts very little influence

China is weak, its current economic engines of real estate and internal consumption has failed. It is currently heavily dependent on export, of which, sanctions and tariffs on China would wreck their economy.

"tariffs"

My memory is not very good, but it seems that something similar has happened 4 years ago, do you remember?

Re: Suspension of inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong

#540

Post by troyvit »

throw_m239339 wrote: post #449
Veliladon wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because there's nowhere in the US like Shenzhen, Guangdong or Hong Kong. Remember how Apple couldn't just pick up and move the production of iPhones to India or Vietnam? You need all the ancillary industries around the production to be there, along with being competitive and commoditized as well. When a supplier has something go wrong a line of manufacturing doesn't go down. You go down the street to the same guy sel…

> You metaphorically need to invent the universe to make it work in the US. You didnt answer the obvious question of the why things are the way they are now? US used to have their entire electronic supply chain, save from raw materials, in USA in the 70s... So why cant US build its own Shenzhen or Hong Kong? taxes? corporate taxes are relatively low in some US states, infrastructure? US has all the infrastructure nee…

> So why cant US build its own Shenzhen or Hong Kong? taxes?

I would guess labor costs and practices are a big aspect. We send all our kids to stupid school instead of paying them pennies to get their tiny little fingers to work building micro-controllers for us and stuff.

Post reply on HN