will get to set its own postal rates starting in July 2020 and other countries will be allowed to move toward setting their own fees in 2021, with a five-year period of phasing in new rates. 17 deadline set by Trump created a situation that one industry executive told TIME earlier this monthwas “like Trump is having his own Brexit.”īut the new deal, reached after emergency talks at the group’s extraordinary congress in Geneva this week, means that particular shipping scramble can come to an end. The pressure to achieve reform before the Oct. than for domestic American manufacturers to mail similar items between states. As a result, it can sometimes be cheaper for companies in China to send merchandise to the U.S. His main complaint was that the system allowed countries such as China to pay heavily subsidized rates, thanks to a system meant to help developing countries, even though its economy has grown substantially since the system was put in place. would exit the Universal Postal Union (UPU) in one year if the group’s 192 members did not agree to reform the rates that countries charge each other when delivering mail and small packages across borders.

President Donald Trump announced last October that the U.S.

The decision will keep the United States from leaving the group, which the Trump Administration had threatened to do - a move that many feared would create a chaotic situation of changing prices and mail disruption. The United Nations body governing worldwide mail systems will remain intact after it agreed to a compromise on Wednesday that will change the way its postal fees are structured.

Usps changes universal postal union