U.S. Wants to Pull Out of World Mail Union
President Donald Trump has moved to pull the United States out of the Universal Postal Union (UPU), arguing that the multilateral system gives China a competitive edge and fuels the shipment of counterfeit goods and illicit drugs.
The UPU sets shipping rates for international mail in a way that guarantees lower prices for shipments from developing economies and higher rates for those from advanced economies. This discrepancy has increasingly garnered more attention among White House economic officials, particularly Peter Navarro, Trump’s adviser on trade.
Lower costs for developing economies mean Chinese retailers can sell small goods such as phone chargers in the U.S. for less than domestic retailers can. The cost of shipping a roughly 4.4-pound package from one U.S. state to another is $19 to $23, while China pays $5 to ship it anywhere in the U.S., according to the U.S. Postal Service. The USPS reportedly lost more than $135 million handling imports from across the world in 2016.
Withdrawal from the UPU is a year-long process, and White House officials said they were open to remaining in the treaty if they could secure reform. The U.S. sought an overhaul of the system at a summit of the UPU in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, earlier this year, but was rebuffed.
Source: Financial Times