Bad news for people shipping to or from the USA, and possibly for the international postal system generally. The USA announced today that they intend to withdraw from the Universal Postal Union (UPU). This would mean that they would negotiate postal agreements and rates separately with every other country in the world, instead of being bound by the current UPU agreements.

It's too early to say how this is going to play out. In theory it's possible for mail service between the USA and other countries to stop altogether, if they can't reach a postal agreement. At a minimum, prices for what are now the cheapest package mailing services to the USA (registered/unregistered packets) are likely to increase -- a lot.

This is part of an ongoing fight over terminal dues for mail items, something I've written about previously here.

Any withdrawal would be at least a year away. The USA has said that they may remain in the UPU if they get to set their own terminal dues rates for small packets under 2kg.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-45894346

http://www.voanews.com/a/us-dispatches-goodbye-letter-to-universal-postal-union-/4617830.html