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‘The industry is expected to be further hit by a US decision to close its ‘de minimis’ scheme that allowed goods valued at under $800 to be imported tariff-free, an important route for e-commerce retailers such as Shein and Temu. Chinese goods are set to lose the exemption from May 2.’ #TrumpTariffs
Donald Trump's trade war with Beijing is starting to affect the wider US economy as container port operators and air freight managers report sharp declines in goods transported from China. Logistics groups said container bookings to the US have fallen sharply since the introduction of 145 per cent tariffs on Chinese imports to the US. The Port of Los Angeles, the main route of entry for goods from China, expects scheduled arrivals in the week starting May 4 to be a third lower than a year before, while airfreight handlers have also reported sharp falls in bookings. Bookings for standard 20-foot shipping containers from China to the US were 45 per cent lower than a year earlier by mid-April, according to the latest available data from container tracking service Vizion. Referring to the baseline tariff for all countries, he said there was "almost an acceptance that 10 per cent will be the minimum charge to access US market, whatever other uncertainties there may be". Washington and Beijing showed signs of starting to feel the effects—with both sides announcing some tariff exemptions this week on important products for their respective economies and Trump predicting the 145 per cent tariff would "come down substantially". However, China said on Friday it was not in talks with the US. As the first container shipments from China to face tariffs are due to land in the US in the coming week, freight operators said supply chains were shifting. Nathan Strang, ocean freight director at US logistics group Flexport, said companies were waiting to ship goods in anticipation of Washington and Beijing agreeing a deal to mitigate the levies. US importers are looking to use up stockpiled inventories before importing fresh stock from China, said logistics executives. They are also holding stock in bonded warehouses where inventory can be stored duty-free with taxes paid on withdrawal, or diverting it to other nearby countries such as Canada. "They're sitting on goods at origin, sitting on goods at destination," Strang said, warning that if a deal was done to cut tariffs, shipping rates would then jump sharply. Hapag-Lloyd, one of the world's largest container shipping lines, said Chinese customers had cancelled roughly 30 per cent of its bookings out of China. Container bookings from China to the US are falling sharply Chief executive Adam Miller said some of the group's largest customers were "expressing concern" that the cost of tariffs would feed into lower volumes in May. "There are some that have told us that, yes, they've cancelled orders or they've stopped ordering, particularly from China, and we'll figure out how to adjust their supply chain to avoid the cost," he said. Retail consultants said purchasing patterns were reflecting the three successive months of softening consumer confidence indices. John Shea, the chief executive of Momentum Commerce, which helps consumer companies sell about $7bn annually on Amazon, warned of a potential "double whammy" of rising prices and falling consumer spending. "We're seeing evidence that consumers are starting to trade down... while at the same prices are creeping up," he said.
April 28, 2025 at 1:59 AM