President Trump End's U.S Subsidy on Chinese Goods Mailed to U.S.

Ever wonder why you can buy Bluetooth earbuds on Ebay from China and get them in a day or two, with POSTAGE INCLUDED, for less than what the postage alone would be to ship them in the U.S.? Well, it turns U.S. taxpayers have been subsidizing China's shipments to the U.S. for decades. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, "The UPU [Universal Postal Union] negotiates global rates and other standards among its 192 members for cross-border mail. The U.N. agency has long used a tiered system that gives discounts to developing countries for packages of 2 kilos (about 4.4 lbs.) or less. Despite China's rise to become the world's second-largest economy, the UPU still classifies it as a 'tier 3' country, meaning it qualifies for the deepest discounts. The U.S. is a 'tier 1' country." President Trump has announced that the U.S. will no longer participate in this subsidy of China and will "self declare" the rate for Chinese shipments into the U.S.

TRIVIA. This not the first time that UPU rates, which had not been adjusted to reflect the reality of the strength of nation's economies, has been in the news. In 1919, Charles Ponzi, sitting in his office at 27 School Street, Boston (a block from the office of Agathon Associates), realized that he could make easy money by taking advantage of the difference between the real cost of postage nation-by-nation, and the artificial exchange rate that the UPU had never updated to reflect the changes in national economies brought about by the Great War. It worked, on a small scale, but became a criminal enterprise when took in more investors' money that there was international postage coupons in circulation to redeem.