Container ships feel docked in the port of Los Angeles on May 6, 2025 in San Pedro, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images News | Getty images
The first shipping containers that transport Chinese products that are subject to the rates of 145% of President Donald Trump have begun to reach the US ports.
Seven ships transported more than 12,000 containers who sailed from China after these rates came into force have reached the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, in California. Five more ships of this type are scheduled in the next few days.
Amazon, Home Depot, Ikea, Ralph Lauren and the supply of tractors are among companies with Chinese products in these containers, which cover a wide range of consumption items.
In addition to home items, clothes and furniture, Amazon It imported a wide variety of products on behalf of the vendors, including refrigerators, fryers, mousepads, shelves and sofas of the living room.
TRACTOR SUPPLY Shipments include portable drum fans, garden tools and work boots for men.
The lamps and ceiling fans have been processed through customs to Home Deposit.
A tractor supplies spokesman sent CNBC to his recent earning calls on April 24 when the company pointed out “remarkable uncertainty” as a result of tariffs. “Tractor Supply is actively working with its supplier and partners of the supply chain to navigate the impact of recently announced rates, while monitoring the broader macroeconomic factors that affect their customers,” said the spokesman.
IKEA furniture; Speed ​​swimming glasses and swimming caps; Procter and bet holder; Samsung printed circuit boards, microwaves and refrigerator pieces; Ralph Lauren Suéters, Kashmir and Blazers; Dr. Martens Airwair Footwear; Samsung microwave and refrigerator pieces; LG washing machines, air conditioners, ranges, refrigerators and dishwasher; Bauer Hockey Sporting Goods; Lenovo computer pieces; Auto parts for Valeo North America; and headphones and computer keyboards for Pole StarThey were all among Chinese containers.
For many of the companies, the products in the categories considered essential to replenish despite the concerns about consumer demand and an economic slowdown.
Amazon said in a statement sent by email that is working with its “wide and varied range of valuable sales partners in our store to support them in the adaptation to the evolution environment while maintaining a wide selection and low prices for customers.”
Home Depot is in a quiet period before announcing its quarterly results, and sent CNBC to an existing statement citing “a fluid environment.”
“We, together with our suppliers, are monitoring the developments and will work in close collaboration to administer with the aim of being the defender of our clients for the value,” said an Home Depot spokesman.
Chinese load containers traffic decline
Trump suggested on Friday, before key commercial conversations, which was willing to reduce tariffs on China to 80%, a rate that many companies would probably still consider extremely high.
“80% of the Chinese rate seems correct! With Scott B,” Trump said in a social position of truth, referring to a planned meeting between Treasury Secretary Scott Besent and China’s homologues in Switzerland this weekend.
Brian Bourke, world commercial director of Seko Logistics, told CNBC that his clients continue to fight to understand how all the various tariff provisions are stacked, or in some cases they are canceled with each other.
“This confusion has led them to continually alter and update their scenarios planning, freezing any other decision for the business they would make,” Bourke said. “Many of our customers have a price and sold their products or projects before the amounts of the rate are announced, and with the speed and gravity, as well as the amount of new tariff provisions that are announced, they cannot change the price of the items that have already sold and are arriving in May and June, or beyond.”
The number of load ships and shipping containers that are directed to the United States from China has collapsed from the announcement of rates in early April.
Through the commercial routes of the West Coast of North America and Asia-América-América-América, there were a total of 90 blank navigations in April and May, according to the intelligence of the sea. The Ocean alliance (a cargo consortium that includes COSCO and OOCL, OOCL, Evergreen, and French -owned CMA, based in Taiwan, and CMA of French property) represented 48 of those canceled outputs.
Reserves decrease between 30 and 50%, according to logistics suppliers and oceanic carriers.
According to the Global Port Tracker report published Friday by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates, the import load in the main container ports of the country will be expected to see its first decrease year after year from 2023 as a result of tariffs.
In addition to the decrease in boat navigations as a result of the paused manufacturing orders of the loaders and less containers to fill, oceanic carriers are using smaller boats to move trade. MSC, the world’s largest oceanic carrier, along with the Gemini Alliance (composed of Maersk and Hapag Lloyd), are among the load companies that use smaller boats between the routes on the west coast of West Asia-America.
MSC has reduced its container capacity by 28% year after year, according to sea intelligence data that analyze the impact of canceled navigations and changes of boats, while the capacity of the oceanic alliance container has decreased by 26% year after year.
Bourke said that once the chargers have finished bringing what they consider essential actions, they are in several degrees “wait and see” with their supply chains, and continue canceling orders from China, which has led to generalized fears on the shortage of products and the potential of empty stores. “What happens when the security stocks that had been built disappear?” Bourke said.
