US President Donald Trump paused his administration's repeal of duty-free treatment of low-cost packages from China on Friday, giving the Commerce Department time to make the order workable, after the rapid change created disruptions for customs inspectors, postal and delivery services and online retailers.

The eventual cancellation of de minimis means the more than 1 billion small-value e-commerce packages arriving annually in the United States with goods coming directly from China must switch to an entry process that requires additional information and duties, adding time and cost.

The stop and restart of the United States Postal Service acceptance of those packages this week set off a swarm of disruptions that backed up Customs clearance for packages, even those that had paid duties, at New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport.

"Well that was a fun Tuesday through Friday, if you work in global e-commerce," said Derek Lossing, CEO of e-commerce and global supply chain firm Cirrus Global Advisors.

The initial change, implemented with just over 48 hours' notice, caused the USPS to temporarily stop accepting packages from China earlier this week.

Popular online retailers including Shein, Temu and Amazon.com's new Haul service send packages directly from Chinese factories to U.S. shoppers and use de minimis to keep prices low.

The Trump administration's revision to the order was signed on Wednesday and published on Friday, a White House spokesperson said.

De minimis, a legal term referring to matters of little importance, refers to the U.S. waiver of standard customs procedures and tariffs on items worth less than US$800 that are shipped to individuals from foreign countries.

Temu and Shein combined ship around 9,000 metric tons of cargo worldwide every day, or approximately 88 full Boeing 777 freighters, said Niall van de Wouw, chief air freight officer at freight pricing platform Xeneta.

"You cannot suddenly put up the shutters to this volume of air freight, so it is no surprise there has been a delay to the executive order on de minimis." (Reuters)