Opinion column by Ross Marchand
Since the US Agency for International Development (USAID) was shut down by the Trump administration, critics and politicians have excavated the most eccentric subsidies that shine green by institutions. It was not possible to speculate that USAID supports post offices around the world. The US government feels that the US Postal Service (USPS) track record is uniquely positioned to pilot the world’s postal management, despite not accurately shining support.
One of the well-known beneficiaries of US taxpayer funding was Ukruporta, a Ukrainian postal service before the latest war began. Details of the 2020 announcement on the postal provider’s website are as follows:
The UKRPOSHTA E-Export School joint initiative and the USAID Competitive Ukrainian Program (CEP) aim to prepare Ukrainian small and medium-sized enterprise handmade manufacturers to export their products. Participating Ukrainian small businesses will receive a step-by-step guide on how to start exports, essential legal and financial information, and tips on expanding foreign trade for those who are already exporting. …The initiative provides small and medium-sized businesses with a guide on how to start selling overseas, revealing the success stories of Ukrainian entrepreneurs who already export their products internationally.
That would be one thing if the US had helped Ukraposta deliver emergency supplies to soldiers and civilians stuck on the frontlines of the war that had already begun. Instead, the US government decided to create an export and sales guide to Ukrainian merchants replicating countless (free) YouTube videos.
These strange postal partnerships are not limited to Ukraine. In 2024, the Philippine Postal Service (PHLPOST) announced that it was working with USAID to expand its e-commerce operations and modernize its information technology resources. According to General Louis Carlos, Phlpost Post Officer
We are optimistic that technical assistance has been given [by USAID] It will further support Phlpost’s programme to establish post offices nationwide for more efficient delivery, reaching out to farther regions of the country. New 7-digit alphanumeric new postal code pH implementation from the old 4 digits to standardize domestic addressing systems. It also provides a real-time visibility system for modernizing the delivery and efficiency of email operations.
USAID’s decision to support PHLPOST is directly inconsistent with the advice of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Association of Southeast Asian Countries (ASEAN), and the UK (UK) government. In 2020, these organizations released a detailed analysis of the Philippine Post and Parcel Division. The report points out that there is no shortage of domestic commercial delivery providers, including JRS Express, Grab Express and LBC Express (“increasing presence in Shinko Town”). As saturated markets and governments already implicitly support Phlpost, the report recommended that “states do not give PHLPOST priority (financial) treatment.” However, the US government has chosen to throw this advice away when leaning scale courtesy of PHLPOST against many of its competitors.
US taxpayers are also subsidized by foreign posts through more complex channels. The United States belongs to an international taxpayer-funded organization known as the Universal Postal Union (UPU). This determines the fees that postal agencies from different countries compensate each other to complete international delivery. In 1999, UPU created a “terminal fee” system that sets fees based on the wealth of the country, rather than the actual cost of providing the product. UU unfairly claimed that countries classified as economic “transition” such as China paid low fees to wealthy “target” countries like the United States.
As a result, the USPS, and even US taxpayers and consumers, have absorbed costs when China is short for mail freight to the US. Furthermore, the USPS had to pay a considerable amount of money to deliver American packages within China, making it much cheaper for China to export products than Americans would sell products to Chinese consumers. As Linn’s Stamp News pointed out, “Shipping a pound of parcel from Greenville, South Carolina to New York City costs almost $6 through the US Postal Service, but only $3.66 from Beijing to New York.”
Fortunately, the UPU agreed to drop this cost and unfair system after President Trump threatened to withdraw from the organization during his first term. In exchange for paying UPU $40 million over five years, UPU has given UPU the right to freely declare and negotiate postage fees with poor countries such as China. However, US taxpayers and consumers have not yet left the woods. The UPU still appears to be keen on subsidizing poor countries through the postal system, and the new Trump administration must keep an eye on the organization.
I’m concerned that from USAID to UPU, international posts have been able to read very easily the taxes and postage rates from Americans. In particular, we consider that America’s failed, false induction attempts attempt to bail out its own postal service. It’s time to end this nonsense and keep mail payments within the state.
Ross Marchand is a senior member of the Taxpayer Protection Alliance
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