Shipping to the USA?
We have services to help
On 30th July 2025, the United States Government announced a new Executive Order which outlined significant changes to customs obligations and processes for goods being imported into the USA from 29th August 2025.
We’ve since been working intensively, including with the US authorities and international partners to adapt to these changes, which will affect everyone who sends goods to the USA.
We are now providing postal delivery duties paid (PDDP) services which meet the new requirements and in order that you can continue to export goods to the USA.
Key points of the US Executive Order
If you ship goods to the USA, the following will apply on 29 August 2025:
- The duty-free threshold (‘de minimis’) of $800 will be removed and replaced by tariffs (duties) which must be paid to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
- For goods shipped via the international postal system, customs duties will be calculated using the value of the item/s and the prevailing country based (IEEPA) tariff for the item/s, depending on their country of origin (country of manufacture, not shipping).
- If you only send personal correspondence to the USA, you are not affected by these changes. You can continue to send these items to the USA, without a customs declaration.
Information about our PDDP services to the USA
Royal Mail has new USA PDDP services which work in a similar way to our existing PDDP services to EU destinations. They will use the same product codes and customers will be able to choose from Tracked, Tracked and Signed and Standard service options, just as they do now.
What can you expect from the PDDP services?
- Familiar experience - labelling, tracking, and notifications will look and feel like the USA services you have already been using.
- Data requirements - electronic data submission remains largely unchanged, so you can continue using current data entry processes with confidence.
- Simple customs clearance – the service will provide Royal Mail shipping, calculation and payment of actual duties to US CBP which will enable your items to pass through US customs.
- Transparent Invoicing - we’ll invoice you for the duties and handling fees we’ve paid on your behalf, on a separate code so you know what customs duties are for each item.
Pricing of our PDDP services to the USA
We want to help customers continue to export to the USA with Royal Mail and keep costs to a minimum. Individual postage pricing will remain the same for the new PDDP services as for the current USA export services.
We will simply add a 50p per parcel handling charge, to cover the additional costs associated with providing clearance services into the USA. This will be invoiced as a handling fee, in addition to postage costs.
Using our PDDP services to the USA
Sending customers are responsible for understanding the latest shipping and customs requirements and accounting for any duties required for the items they are sending. Royal Mail will continue to provide shipping, calculation and payment of actual duties to the US authorities, enabling items to pass through US customs. Royal Mail will invoice customers for the duties we have paid on your behalf.
Using the new Royal Mail PDDP services
The new USA requirements became effective on Friday 29th August 2025.
The new USA PDDP account services set out below are now available for our customers on Royal Mail shipping solutions.
PDDP Product Codes and Specifications
If you already use Royal Mail export services to the USA, then you don’t need to do anything to get the product codes for new USA PDDP services as we have already added these product codes to your account along with two supplementary codes (CUO and CUE) which we’ll use to invoice duties and taxes in association with the PDDP service.
| Current Royal Mail US export service (parcel or large letter format) |
USA PDDP service code |
USA PDDP weight limit | USA PDDP Size Limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard / Untracked | DE6 | Up to 2kg | L + D + W < 90cm (any one dimension cannot be more than 60cm) |
| Tracked | MPR | Up to 30kg | 61cm x 46cm x 46cm |
| Tracked Heavier | MPR | Up to 30kg | 61cm x 46cm x 46cm |
| Tracked & Signed | MTV | Up to 2kg | L + D + W < 90cm (any one dimension cannot be more than 60cm) |
More information
If you choose to use replacement PDDP services to the USA, you are agreeing to the service terms & conditions. For more information about the terms of this service, please refer to https://www.royalmail.com/business/international/guide and view the International Business Parcels User Guide.
Need more help' – please contact your account manager.
If you don’t have an account manager, you can call our business helpline on 03457 950 950 number. We’ll take your details and a member of our international team will be in touch with you.
How are duties calculated?
Royal Mail will provide shipping, calculation and payment of required duties to the US authorities, enabling items to pass through US customs. Whilst we recommend customers understand the duties applicable to their items, actual duties will be calculated by our partner before entry into US customs. Royal Mail will use this information to invoice customers for the duties we have paid on your behalf.
Please note that for any items that need to be returned from America to the UK a request for refund of customs duty does not apply. Royal Mail has no jurisdiction over this
What duties apply to items shipped using Royal Mail?
For goods shipped via the international postal system, customs duties will be calculated using the value of the item and the country based (IEEPA) tariff for that item, depending on the country of origin. Country of origin means where an item was manufactured, not where a parcel is being shipped from.
Royal Mail will provide calculation and payment of the required duties to the US authorities, enabling items to pass through US customs. We will use this information to invoice customers for the duties we have paid on your behalf.
More US Government information about country based (IEEPA) tariffs can be found here.
What if I am sending a parcel with more than one item in it, with different countries of origin?
Customers need to continue to provide information (data) for each item contained in a package.
If packages contain items with different countries of origin, each individual item will incur the country based (IEEPA) tariff for the item, depending on its country of origin. Royal Mail will provide calculation, collection and payment of the required duties to the US authorities, enabling items to pass through US customs.
Do I need to provide any new information/fill in new fields?
Most of the information you need for shipping to the USA is the same as it was prior to the requirements changing. It is particularly important to make sure you’re providing an appropriate item description, HS code, country of origin and value as this determines the duty calculation.
In addition, there are the following required fields:
- The recipient email address and mobile phone number fields are mandatory for PDDP services. If you do not capture this information from your customers or are unable to provide this, you can opt to enter your own/sender email/mobile phone number.
- The customs duty costs field is also mandatory for PDDP services. You can enter the customs duties you have calculated if you use a landed cost calculator or other means to calculate duties yourself. If not, you can enter any number in this field as it is not currently used for the calculation and payment of duties.
Why can’t I currently access USA PDDP large letter services?
We have been working hard with the relevant US authorities and our international partners to adapt our many USA services and supporting systems in a very short timeframe. If you’re sending goods, whilst you can still send large letter format items, temporarily, account customers will need to use USA PDDP parcel services for sending those items. We are in the process of developing large letter services which comply with the new US customs requirements and will make these available to account customers as quickly as we can.
Do I need to provide a commercial invoice?
No, this is not a mandatory field and a commercial invoice is not required.
For more frequently asked questions please see herepdf, 299.92 KB.