Alexandra Aquilina, a Berlin-based creative and owner of Cat Magic Collective, announced on Monday that all shipments to US have been immediately cancelled due to the tariffs that leave small businesses like hers in limbo. 

Cat Magic Collective specialises in dark humour apparel for “weirdos, misfits, witches and outcasts”. Ms Aquilina creates bespoke pop-culture inspired apparel which include hand-printed tees, enamel pins and bandanas.

While her business usually ships internationally, her US market will be temporarily left out of orders for the near future. 

“Here it is, the announcement I’ve been dreading to make since the beginning of this year. All US shipments are temporarily suspended effective immediately," she announced on Instagram. 

“As a small business owner this news is devastating.”

"Although the general atmosphere of uncertainty among U.S. shoppers has softened sales since the start of the year, tariffs barely touched my small EU-to-US orders because the $800 de minimis rule was still in place," she explains to WhosWho.mt. 

The real shock came at the beginning of the month, when the administration announced it would suspend de minimis, effective August 29th. 

Assuming it would be a straight-forward process as a small creator, Ms Aquilina thought business would proceed as usual.

“I assumed it would be a straightforward transition, but Deutsche Post, and several other European postal services, temporarily paused US goods mail while the new rules get wired up. It’s all felt very abrupt, and I’ve been forced to pause US checkout since that service is currently unavailable while I look at pricier stop-gap options. Tariffs on my low-value EU shipments weren’t steadily rising all year; the big change is this de minimis suspension and a still-evolving postal collection process," she adds.

"I’m a small creator, not a big importer, and what I want are simple, consistent rules so customers won’t be surprised on delivery and can click 'buy' with confidence. In the meantime we can only wait to see how and when European postal services resolve this."

Until then, Cat Magic Collective and indeed many other businesses must wait and see how things evolve and are tried and tested. 

“I keep my fingers crossed. In the meantime, please follow, share, subscribe and save your favourite sellers, and, everyone else in the rest of the world, support your local businesses now more than ever!" she adds. 

European postal operators have warned of possible delays or suspensions in shipments to the United States from 29th August 2025, following sweeping changes to American customs rules.

The industry group PostEurop, which represents Europe’s national postal networks and includes MaltaPost, said the new measures would “significantly affect all postal companies worldwide.”

In fact, MaltaPost recently said it cancelled shipping to the US. 

At the heart of the change is the United States (US) Government’s decision to abolish the “de minimis” exemption, a long-standing rule that allowed goods valued under USD 800 to enter the country without customs duties or complex documentation.

Once the exemption is scrapped, every incoming parcel will be subject to full customs duties and formal clearance procedures, irrespective of its value.

For Maltese exporters and businesses, the impact could be immediate: higher costs, longer processing times and in some cases, like Alexandra Aquilina, the suspension of postal shipments altogether.