By 
Japan Post, the Japanese mail division, announced via its official site that it is temporarily suspending acceptance of most packages to the US as a result of the President Donald Trump “Termination of De Minimis Treatment for All Countries” executive order tied to tariffs. If an item isn’t an ordinary letter or small package that is a gift that costs under $100, it won’t accept and send out the mail. It didn’t note when this suspension will end and recommended U-Global Express (UGX) instead. This would apply to import game and merchandise purchases.
As a reminder, the Trump “Termination of De Minimis Treatment for All Countries” removed a long-standing duty-free initiative that prevented items that cost “at or under $800” from incurring additional fees as part of his on-going tariffs. Japan Post noted that the guidelines for enforcing this “are not clear,” so it suspended most mail to the US in certain situations.
Here’s a list of all the items that will still be able to be sent from Japan to the US via mail, with the items predominantly being items that don’t include goods or gifts:
- Documents sent via EMS
- Letters
- Postcards
- Small packages that are gifts with contents that cost under $100
- Small packets that are gifts with contents that cost under $100
If a package is intended for a commercial purpose or has items inside that cost over $100, Japan Post won’t send them via mail to the US during this pause.
One of the last times there was such a major pause in service started in April 2020. During that time, Japan Post paused service to 153 countries. However, at that time the suspensions and delayed ended up being due to the pandemic and not a change in US government policy.
It is unknown when Japan Post will resume service as usual to the US.
