Here's an episode of NPR's "Planet Money" podcast about this, from a couple months ago: https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2018/08/01/634737852/episode-857-the-postal-illuminati And here's the...
There are good arguments for this, several of which are mentioned in the article: Protect local businesses. Better for the environmental. Reduce the amount of counterfeit goods. Reduce smuggling....
There are good arguments for this, several of which are mentioned in the article:
Protect local businesses.
Better for the environmental.
Reduce the amount of counterfeit goods.
Reduce smuggling.
Not everything Trump wants to do is dumb. But somehow he always manages to find a dumb way to do it.
The United States will also file a notice that it will withdraw from the Universal Postal Union, the White House said, though if it can negotiate new agreements with other countries, it will not withdraw.
The announcement is quintessential Trump—it shatters decades-old respected treaties and threatens to withdraw from an international consortium unless other countries accede to the wishes of the United States.
Instead of working within the existing framework to improve the situation, he wants to pull out so the US can strong-arm other countries to bend to its will.
My own country has a different solution for this issue. If you buy something from outside the country, it is exempt from sales tax as long as the total cost of the contents plus shipping of the package does not exceed 350 NOK (€ 37). Above that and you need to pay sales tax (25%), a bureaucratic process that will delay your package by several days, and usually incur an additional free from the shipping company for the extra time they have to take care of your package. And it works! People rarely buy goods from other countries above this price limit, unless it's goods that are very hard to get from sellers within the country. And the government doesn't lose out as much on sales tax as it otherwise would. And we did it without leaving the Universal Postal Union.
(It's worth noting that the limit was recently increased from 200 NOK, because we're sadly not immune to populism here either (with the right-wing populist party even part of the governing coalition).)
Here's an episode of NPR's "Planet Money" podcast about this, from a couple months ago: https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2018/08/01/634737852/episode-857-the-postal-illuminati
And here's the transcript, if you'd rather read: https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=634732388
There are good arguments for this, several of which are mentioned in the article:
Not everything Trump wants to do is dumb. But somehow he always manages to find a dumb way to do it.
Instead of working within the existing framework to improve the situation, he wants to pull out so the US can strong-arm other countries to bend to its will.
My own country has a different solution for this issue. If you buy something from outside the country, it is exempt from sales tax as long as the total cost of the contents plus shipping of the package does not exceed 350 NOK (€ 37). Above that and you need to pay sales tax (25%), a bureaucratic process that will delay your package by several days, and usually incur an additional free from the shipping company for the extra time they have to take care of your package. And it works! People rarely buy goods from other countries above this price limit, unless it's goods that are very hard to get from sellers within the country. And the government doesn't lose out as much on sales tax as it otherwise would. And we did it without leaving the Universal Postal Union.
(It's worth noting that the limit was recently increased from 200 NOK, because we're sadly not immune to populism here either (with the right-wing populist party even part of the governing coalition).)