The United States formally moved on Wednesday to withdraw from one of the oldest international organizations in a bid to lower rates for foreign postal deliveries of small packages in the United States.
The formal notification, known as a letter of denunciation, to withdraw from the Universal Postal Union (UPU) is being sent by the State Department in response to what the administration of President Donald Trump views as an unfair advantage primarily for China, but also for such other countries as France and Germany, in online commerce.
The existing international postal system makes it cheaper to ship a package from China to America than from one side of the United States to the other.
"It creates huge costs to the U.S. postal system," which has to charge higher rates to American companies in a cross-subsidy, "so that costs jobs," according to a senior Trump administration official, speaking to reporters on a background briefing call.
The unfair international postal rates, according to the official, also are being used by China to ship counterfeit goods and narcotics, such as fentanyl, to the United States.
From now on, the United States will have "self-declared rates" for packages under 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) to correct what U.S. officials call a "major economic distortion."