President Donald Trump signed an executive order last month imposing tariffs on goods worth less than $US800 ($1230), beginning on August 29.
Australia Post on Tuesday suspended service on business parcels to the US until further notice, as the executive order means senders will need to pre-pay the tariffs before their parcels arrive in the US. This has caused havoc for global postal services that do not have their own technology to collect the money and send it to the US government.
Paul Zalai, director of the Freight & Trade Alliance that represents logistics companies, said Australia Post's pause was only a "relatively small part of the equation", which he expected to last only a few weeks.
Zalai said retailers would find it advantageous to ship goods to the US in bulk and distribute them from America, thereby paying tariffs on wholesale prices rather than retail prices.
"I imagine a lot of larger-scale retailers will change their logistics models. Smaller manufacturers or suppliers to the US … will be subject to higher costs and may suffer accordingly," Zalai said.y Vide
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