Pushing Back on New Postal Duty Requirements

Last week, I submitted formal comments to the U.S. Postal Service on new duty collection requirements affecting packages mailed from the CNMI and other U.S. territories to the rest of the United States. The new process could require CNMI residents to navigate customs classifications, determine whether goods qualify for exemptions, and pay duties and fees through a third-party customs broker before USPS will accept certain packages. We have already seen CNMI-made products incorrectly assigned tariff charges through the system being used to implement these changes. My comments ask USPS to suspend implementation in the territories until it can properly account for the CNMI's unique treatment under the Covenant. That includes ensuring qualifying CNMI-made goods receive the duty-free treatment they are entitled to, determining how duties and fees collected from CNMI residents will be returned to the Commonwealth Treasury as required by the Covenant, and creating a process that does not leave individual residents responsible for navigating complicated customs rules just to mail a package. The CNMI has a unique legal relationship with the United States, and federal policies have to account for it. I will continue working to make sure the rights and protections provided to our people under the Covenant are recognized when these policies are put into practice.