China to pay triple for overseas postal deliveries by 2025 in package deal with global union
- Fee increase follows threat from United States to withdraw from international body over ‘subsidising of Chinese exporters’
Fees paid by China to the United States and other countries to deliver packages will nearly triple through 2025 under an agreement by the global postal union following complaints by Washington, the Chinese post office said on Tuesday.
Payments would rise 27 per cent next year and by 164 per cent in total through 2025 under the September 25 agreement by members of the Universal Postal Union, the State Postal Bureau said in a statement.
The administration of US President Donald Trump complained the US Post Office was subsidising Chinese exporters, which it said paid too little to deliver the vast volume of packages generated by online commerce.
Washington threatened to pull out of the 192-member group, which other members said would disrupt global postal operations.
The increase would “push up the cost of cross-border e-commerce logistics in China, bringing a certain impact”, postal bureau deputy director Gao Hongtao said in the statement.
Gao said the impact on China overall should be small because fees paid to its post office also would increase.
The US complaint centred on reimbursement for delivering “bulky letters and small parcels”, usually weighing more than 2kg (4½ pounds). They can include high-value items such as mobile phones, memory sticks and pharmaceuticals.