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President Donald Trump issued a surprise executive order Thursday night calling for an evaluation of the U.S. Postal Service’s finances.
“The USPS is on an unsustainable financial path and must be restructured to prevent a taxpayer-funded bailout,” Trump said in the order, which was issued about 9 p.m. Eastern.
Trump ordered a task force to investigate the Postal Service’s operations and finances. It will also examine the Postal Service’s position in the package delivery industry, the declining volume of mail and the “universal service obligation” that requires the agency to delivery mail to everyone in the U.S.
“It shall be the policy of my administration that the United States postal system operate under a sustainable business model to provide necessary mail services to citizens and businesses, and to compete fairly in commercial markets,” Trump said in the order.
The task force is to report its findings to Trump within 120 days.
The order did not mention Amazon.com Inc. which Trump has publicly lashed out at in recent weeks, claiming it is shortchanging the Postal Service on the costs of package deliveries.