With every government policy there is always the rise of unintended consequences. The policy is destined to do something positive, to correct a wrong, to make something better and often whatever has grown up around the old policy has to change. President Trump imposed tariffs and he was thinking of the big items that could be manufactured in the US. The reality is people send packages to family and friends as well as many small and medium sized businesses rely on shipments. The trend has increases with Amazon and relatively low cost shipping so people can order almost anything and they do on a smaller scale.

In an article by Demetris Nellas and Mae Anderson of the Associated Press, ever since tariffs were announced there was an exemption for low-value packages coming into the US. The reason was often it was family sending family items. The exemption known as “de minimis” was for packages less than $800 in value to come into the US duty free. According to US Customs and Border Agency it amounted to 1.36 billion packages sent in 2024 for a value worth $64.6 billion.

It was set to expire and postal services across Europe said they were no longer shipping the packages because someone has to pay the new import duties. In the UK, they would add a 10% duty before shipping.

DHL, the largest shipper in Europe note key questions remain unresolved, how and by whom customs duties will be collected in the future. what additional data will be required, and how the data transmission to the US Customs and Border Protection will be carried out.

A trade framework agreed to the US and the European Union set a 15% tariff on the vast majority of products shipped from the EU. Packages worth less than $800 are also subject to the tariff.

In the Netherlands, PostNL said the Trump administration is pressing ahead with the new duties despite US authorities lacking a system to collect them. PostNL is working with its US counterparts to find a solution. In government there would be overlapping agencies involved and that takes time to find a solution.

If you still believe foreign governments pay the tariff, you are mistaken.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, governments are a wonderful thing, and we all need them, but eventually they make policies which have unintended consequences. Companies do the same thing, but companies tend to be more adaptable, governments will say this is the policy, The people will acknowledge the problem, but the solution is with someone else and not them. Often times in business, the person to help find a solution is closer by, for your investments are the solutions really closer to the customer?

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.