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Global Postal Dispute Intensifies as US Threatens to Quit

Lisa Schlein

   GENEVA - The Universal Postal Union warns of a major disruption to the
   global postal system and huge price hikes for consumers if the United
   States withdraws from the U.N. organization. The UPU is holding in
   Geneva an Extraordinary Congress to prevent this from happening.

   The Trump Administration's threat to withdraw from the UPU has
   triggered this Extraordinary Congress. Washington is angry that China,
   considered a developing country, pays lower postal rates than the U.S.

   UPU secretary-general, Bishar Hussein says the meeting seeks to find a
   compromise solution to keep the U.S. within the Universal Postal Union.

   "[The] U.S. is a very major player of the Union," he said. "Their
   economy is very big, and many countries have a huge traffic postal and
   packets traffic with the United States. So, the departure of the United
   States from the Union would mean a total disruption of services to that
   country. Because the moment a country leaves the treaty, what happens
   is that that country does not exist for us in our global postal
   territory."

   Three different proposals are on the table. The United States favors
   option B, which would allow countries to immediately self-declare their
   own rates.

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