A woman living in France says she tried to mail a few cards to the U.S. and was met with a confusing surprise: postal workers told her they couldn’t do it.
The TikToker, who goes by @movedtoeurope, posted a video about her experience that now has over 2.2 million views.
Did France Block Her Letters to the U.S.?
“So, fun fact,” she says at the top of the video, “we can’t mail letters to the United States anymore.”
She explains that she’d gone to the post office to send a Halloween card to her parents, a condolences card to a friend, and a few other letters.
After standing in line, she speaks to a postal worker. “She’s like, ‘Yeah, I don’t know why, but we just can’t send anything to the United States,’” the TikToker recalls. Confused, she tries to clarify what that means.
She Googles the issue and sees a notice saying packages to the U.S. might be impacted due to new tariffs. “And I’m like, interesting,” she says.
Still unsure, she visits a second post office with her husband in case she misunderstood because of the language barrier. “Maybe it was a translation error. Maybe my French just, like, misunderstood,” she says. But no—again, she’s told they can’t send mail to the U.S.
“We can’t even send mail to the United States anymore in France,” she repeats. “Which is very concerning in terms of what the f is going on with the United States right now.”
What’s Actually Going on With International Mail to the U.S.?
While the situation sounds bizarre, there’s a reason behind it—though it might not make the whole thing less frustrating.
As reported by The Guardian, several European countries temporarily suspended U.S.-bound postal services in late August 2025. That’s when the U.S. ended its so-called “de minimis” exemption, which previously allowed packages worth under $800 to enter duty-free.
Now, every parcel is subject to import tariffs, regardless of value, which makes it significantly more expensive to send packages and more complicated for international carriers. Postal services must collect and transmit new customs data and may be liable for tariffs if they don’t.
Because of the sudden policy shift, some national carriers—like France’s La Poste—temporarily stopped shipping anything to the U.S., even letters, while they restructured their systems.
Although the changes officially applied to packages, not letters, some locations halted all outgoing U.S. mail to avoid mistakes.
In a follow-up video, the TikToker says she eventually managed to send her letters by waiting in line at a third post office and speaking to someone directly, rather than using a self-service kiosk.
Comments Poured in From Confused Americans and Voters Abroad
Her comments section quickly filled with U.S. viewers just as confused as she was.
“Texas here,” one wrote. “WE DON’T KNOW WHAT THE EFF IS GOING ON EITHER!! We did not sign up for this. We did not vote for this.”
Another person added, “ISOLATING IS PART OF ABUSIVE CONTROL.”
One commenter pointed out a larger concern: “Is this going to impact mail-in voting from citizens abroad?” The creator responded, “OMG I just gasped. Didn’t even think of that. Here I am concerned about Halloween cards lol when HELLO we need to vote!”
@movedtoeurope I guess they’ll get my Halloween cards next year #fyp #americanabroad #france #politics ♬ original sound – Moved to Europe
Others noted they’ve seen similar delays. “None of us in the United States are aware of things like this. Everything is being censored,” one wrote. “Please keep sharing things like this.”
Another added, “Okay this is strange because my husband sent post cards to family and friends from Vietnam and NO ONE got them. NO ONE.”
The Mary Sue has reached out to @movedtoeurope for comment.
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