Donald Trump in recent weeks has expressed a keen interest in privatizing the US Postal Service (USPS) because of its financial losses, the Washington Post reported on Saturday, citing three people with knowledge of the matter.
Trump, who begins his second US presidency on 20 January, has discussed his desire to privatize the USPS with Howard Lutnick, his pick for commerce secretary, at his Mar-a-Lago home, the report said.
As the Post noted, the move could disrupt consumer shipping and business supply chains while pushing hundreds of thousands of federal workers out of government.
Nonetheless, Trump gathered a group of officials advising him on his transition back to the White House and asked them for their views on privatizing the agency. Informed of its annual financial losses, Trump said the USPS should not be subsidized by the government, according to the people who spoke with the Post on the condition of anonymity so that they could speak frankly about private conversations.
Trump’s specific plans for possibly overhauling the USPS and privatizing it were not immediately clear. But he feuded with the agency during his first presidency, seeking to compel it to turn over key functions – including labor relations, managing relationships with its largest clients, rate-setting and personnel matters – to the federal treasury department.
Meanwhile, before his defeat to Joe Biden in the 2020 election after his first presidency, Trump argued that the USPS was incapable of facilitating mail-in voting because he was blocking the agency from accessing emergency funding. Ultimately, as the Post noted, the USPS delivered nearly 98% of voters’ ballots to election officials within three days despite the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
The USPS is older than the US itself, having been founded in 1775. It became a financially self-sustaining agency in 1970 and is one of the most well-liked federal agencies, according to a 2024 Pew Research Center study cited by the Post.
In the fiscal year ending 30 September, the USPS lost $9.5bn after modernizing facilities and equipment did little to offset declines in mail volume as well as a parcel shipping business that was slower than anticipated, according to the Post’s reporting. The postal service’s annual financial report disclosed nearly $80bn in liabilities.
Reuters contributed reporting
