WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump has paused imposing tariffs on small-value packages arriving from China, apparently to give federal agencies time to sort out how to process millions of such shipments that have come through the US border every day without paying taxes.

The executive order, dated Wednesday, didn’t say when the pause would end but said it would cease when the Department of Commerce could put in place “adequate systems” to “fully and expediently process and collect tariff revenue.”

“It’s just showing we’re moving fast, and the implications are not fully understood when some of these regulations are put in place,” said John Lash, group vice president of product strategy at the supply chain platform e2open, pointing out that Trump’s order affected huge numbers of small packages, many in transit.

“The volumes are absolutely incredible,” Lash said. “And all of a sudden, they go from not requiring filing (for tariffs) to actually requiring full filing, which is a complicated task.”

Ending tariff exemptions on low-cost packages from China has broad bipartisan support in Washington, and Trump pulled the plug when he raised tariffs on Chinese goods by 10 percent earlier this week. Goods sent through duty-free packages became subject not only to existing tariffs — 25 percent for many Chinese products — but also the new 10 percent. (Jamaica Gleaner/Foto: AP)