President Donald Trump’s executive orders will soon affect the UK, and Royal Mail have released guidance on all of the expected changes.
One of his most recent orders changes customs requirements for goods being imported from the UK to the US, beginning later this week.
Until now, items valued at less than $800 could be sent to the states without the sender incurring customs duties.
This Friday, that will be a thing of the past.
All goods, regardless of their value, are subject to import tariffs, also known as duties, and will have to be paid by Brits before they’re sent on Royal Mail.
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There are some exceptions to the new rule, which comes into effect on August 29 – here’s all you need to know.
Can I still send gifts?
Sending gifts to the USA on Royal Mail will still be easy, as long as they’re valued at $100 or less.
If the value of your item is more than $100, you may have to pay additional fees and duties, but staff at Royal Mail will be able to help you.
Cards and letters won’t require a customs declaration.
How much duty will I pay for packages?
Though postage costs will remain the same to send items to the US, duties will be calculated according to each item.
Country-specific tariffs for where each item you’re sending was made will be calculated by Royal Mail staff and then added to your cost.
Will this affect anything I’ve already sent to the US?
Luckily, no. But those using Royal Mail between today and Friday might see slight delays in their items being sent as the new services are activated, Royal Mail said.
In a statement online, they explained: ‘There is likely to be a short period between existing services being withdrawn and new services being activated to allow us to send items using existing services from the UK and for them to reach the USA before August 29.’
What other tariffs is Trump introducing?
In a major break from the USA’s long-standing free trade policy, the US president has been hiking taxes on goods arriving on US soil from around the world.
In April, a universal 10% tariff affecting goods from nearly all other countries came into force.
Additional rates, which Trump dubiously calls ‘reciprocal tariffs’, were announced at the time but suspended after they led to a global stock market crash.
Trump has repeatedly called these new rates ‘reciprocal tariffs’, claiming this means ‘they do it to us and we do it to them’.
In reality, very few of these 69 countries have been levying tariffs on US imports at anywhere near the same scale.
But Trump’s administration created a formula – heavily criticised by economists as overly simplistic – which it used to come up with the new rates it would charge each country.
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