Hillary Clinton, who ran against Donald Trump in 2016, criticized his recent trade policies and warned that they are harming the United States’ reputation around the world.
She said that Trump’s new tariffs are creating problems that have led several countries to stop sending mail and packages to the U.S. Countries like Australia, France, Germany, India, Spain, and South Korea have already paused deliveries.
Clinton posted on X (formerly Twitter), asking whether Americans voted in 2024 to turn the U.S. into something like a “Hermit Kingdom,” a term often used to describe a country that cuts itself off from the rest of the world.
This phrase is usually associated with North Korea, which has long isolated itself from international trade and communication. Ironically, Trump has often spoken positively about North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, and even said earlier this week that he wanted to meet with him again. Back in 2009, when Clinton was Secretary of State, she also used the term “Hermit Kingdom” to describe North Korea.
The mail delivery issue comes after Trump removed a rule known as the “de minimis” exemption, which previously allowed low-value packages to enter the U.S. without extra tariffs.
Because of this change, many postal services are confused about how they should handle customs duties and what extra information they need to provide when sending packages to the U.S. DHL, Europe’s largest shipping company, said that there are still big unanswered questions about how customs fees will be collected and what new requirements will be put in place.
