Joint appeal seeks relief from new federal shipping costs to protect families, small businesses and fragile island economies
U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS — Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. has formally requested that President Donald Trump exempt the U.S. territories from new customs duties on small packages shipped to and from the mainland.
Bryan’s letter to the president was co-signed by the governors of Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa, forming a united front by America’s insular territories to protect their residents from disproportionate economic burdens.
The effort followed Bryan’s meeting last week with senior Department of the Interior officials, after which he mobilized his fellow territorial governors to join the appeal. In addition to the presidential request, Bryan sent a formal letter to Deputy Secretary of the Interior William Hague urging the administration to provide immediate relief.
Executive Order 14324 was designed to close loopholes in foreign trade and strengthen U.S. supply chains. Bryan said its unintended application to the territories, where U.S. citizens live outside the customs zone, creates undue hardship.
“For Virgin Islanders and our fellow Americans in Guam, American Samoa and the Northern Marianas, small package shipping is not a convenience. It is a lifeline,” Bryan said. “Ninety percent of what we consume—food, school supplies, medical equipment, hurricane rebuilding materials—arrives from the mainland. Imposing duties on these everyday essentials amounts to a tax on families, seniors, students and small businesses simply for being American citizens who live outside the continental United States.”
The joint letter to the president highlighted several points:
• Territorial status overlooked. Unlike Puerto Rico, which lies within the U.S. Customs Zone, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa and the Northern Marianas are outside that zone and were inadvertently included in the order, despite not posing any foreign trade threat.
• Disproportionate impacts. Islanders rely heavily on parcel shipping with no practical alternatives. Duties on outbound packages to the mainland and inbound goods from mainland ports would raise costs, disrupt fragile supply chains and delay urgently needed medications.
• National service and loyalty. Territorial residents have long demonstrated extraordinary patriotism, including some of the highest enlistment rates in the U.S. Armed Forces. “Americans in the territories have earned equal treatment, not unequal burdens,” the governors wrote.
• Precedent for exemptions. The federal government has previously granted territorial exemptions when trade policies unintentionally harmed island economies.
In his letter to Hague, Bryan wrote: “We fully support the administration’s broader trade objectives. But the unintended consequences of this policy strain household budgets, increase small business costs and undercut economic resilience. A tailored exemption for the territories will preserve the intent of federal policy while ensuring fairness for Americans living outside the continental United States.”
Bryan said the issue is not partisan but one of economic justice and national security.
“The residents of the Virgin Islands and all U.S. territories are Americans. We serve, we sacrifice and we contribute to the strength of this nation. We should not be penalized because of geography,” Bryan said.
The governor expressed confidence that the administration will recognize the merit of the request and grant relief consistent with past exemptions.
“This is about protecting our people, our economy and our place in the American family,” Bryan said.
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