Global postal union meets amid Trump threat to pull US out [View all]

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Source: Associated Press

GENEVA (AP) — The effects of President Donald Trump’s standoff with China could soon be coming to a post office near you — and higher shipping rates for some types of mail are the likely outcome.

The Trump administration is threatening to pull the United States out of the 145-year-old Universal Postal Union, complaining that some postal carriers like China’s aren’t paying enough to have foreign shipments delivered to U.S. recipients.

A showdown looms at a special UPU congress that is being held Tuesday to Thursday in Geneva.

The complaint centers on the reimbursement that the U.S. Postal Service receives for providing final deliveries of bulky letters and small parcels sent from abroad — usually ones not weighing more than 2 kilograms (about 4½ pounds). Such mail can include high-value items like mobile phones, memory sticks or pharmaceuticals.

Read more: https://www.apnews.com/43412684069a466b988e73bcb6f55689

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The State Department last year formally indicated that the United States would quit the UPU, an organization it helped create, on Oct. 17 if reforms can’t be agreed. The administration says the United States will start setting its own rates for reimbursement — so-called “self-declared rates” — whether or not it stays in.

Some have dubbed the withdrawal prospect “Pexit,” short for “Postal Exit” — a cheeky allusion to Brexit, Britain’s impending departure from the European Union, which likewise carries great uncertainties.

It’s unclear what exactly would happen if the U.S. pulls out of the postal group. Some influencing factors include whether non-postal operators can fill the void or how soon bilateral deals between the United States and postal partners could be enacted. One thing many fear from the move: mail backlogs that start piling up.