Japan Post Suspends All Shipments to the US Due to Uncertainty in Ongoing Tariff Situation

If you're an American and you've got any pre-orders coming out of Japan at the end of August, maybe 40th Selection Lio Convoy which was delayed to this month, well, you're going to be waiting a little longer. As of August 27 Japan Post is suspending all shipments to the United States. That includes EMS, parcel, small packet and everything else in between. This is on top of DHL also suspending shipments from most (all?) exporters in Japan, leaving really no options to get stuff out of Japan short of freight. And just to add insult to injury this administration has also brought an end to de minimis exemptions, the rule that prevented duties on imports for personal use totaling less than $800 from all countries as of August 28. How that works out is not quite known, some say there's a $80 flat rate on all imports while others say it's 15% up to $80. This uncertainty is part of the reason why Japan Post is suspending deliveries in the first part.

Below is the statement from Japan Post as it appears in English on their website.

On July 30, 2025, the U.S. government issued an executive order titled “Termination of De Minimis Treatment for All Countries” regarding mail to the United States.

Under this executive order, starting August 29, 2025, mail containing goods imported for personal use (taxable mail) will no longer be eligible for duty-free treatment, and tariffs will be imposed. On August 15, 2025, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced new guidelines regarding the elimination of de minimis rules, which require that transport operators pay customs deposits to CBP and prepare customs declarations. The procedures that transport operators and postal operators in each country must follow to comply with these guidelines are not clear, however, making implementation difficult.

Therefore, starting August 27 (Wed.), in line with other national postal operators, we will temporarily suspend the acceptance of postal items (small packets, parcels, and EMS (goods)) to the United States that contain the following items:

• Individual gifts with a content value exceeding 100 US dollars
• Goods intended for sale for consumption

In addition, we will continue to accept letters, postcards, printed matter, EMS (documents), and postal items (small packets, parcels, and EMS (goods)) containing gifts between individuals with a value of less than US$100.

As an alternative to the above suspension of acceptance, our international courier service, UGX (U-Global Express), can handle shipments in compliance with U.S. customs regulations:

UGX (U-Global Express)

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your understanding.

The latest information on the status of international mail items to be sent to destination countries and regions can be found here.

This is going to put a big damper on Americans importing from Japan until things are sorted out. Let us know in the Seibertron Energon Pub forums if you're being affected by this.