Postal traffic to the U.S. has fallen significantly after the Trump administration suspended a trade exemption rule in late August, according to a global postal union.

The U.N.'s Universal Postal Union (UPU) said the global postal network saw postal traffic enroute to the U.S. "come to a near halt" after Aug. 29, 2025, when the "de minimis" trade exemption that allowed small packages worth less than $800 to be exempt from tariffs ended. Data between postal operators shows that traffic dropped 81% on Aug. 29 compared to a week earlier, the union said. The UPU also said it is working on ways to get traffic flowing back to the country.

"The UPU has in its mission the responsibility to guarantee the free circulation of postal items over a single postal territory. We're working to uphold that

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