After a year marked by port congestion, vessel diversions and longshore labor issues, maritime shipping is bracing for the unknown in 2025.
Shippers continue to navigate the known and the unknown as trans-Pacific container rates moved higher as 2024 comes to an end.
The year’s five biggest U.S.-Mexico cross-border supply chain stories include projections that trade will top $800 billion and threats by President-elect Donald Trump to impose tariffs.
New policy could accelerate nearshoring trend.
Current forecasts indicate a significant escalation in tariff levels, potentially rising to an imposing 75% on Mexican goods by September 2026, aligning with a strategic pivot toward a protectionist trade policy.
Cross-border trade flows for industries such as autos, lumber and agrifoods could be affected by President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs, experts said.
New tariffs by the Trump administration on products from China, Canada and Mexico will hit companies and consumers with increased costs, experts said.
Ocean container rates to the U.S. remained steady as shippers maneuver to minimize the effects of higher tariffs and a potential port strike in 2025.
Container rates to the U.S. West and East coasts stayed above $5,000 per FEU as tariff talk and labor issues shadowed shippers’ plans.
President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to impose 25% tariffs on goods imported from Mexico and Canada could have a chilling impact on cross-border rail traffic, which has been one of the few sources of volume growth for North American Class I railroads.
Trump plans for tariffs on all imports from Canada, China and Mexico starting Jan. 20.
High tariffs on Chinese imports, promised by President-elect Trump, will likely slow U.S. trade in 2025 as uncertainty hinders investment in reshoring of manufacturing, a trade analyst predicts.
Blanket tariffs, like any other tax, may include certain exemptions. It is these exemptions — not the tariffs themselves — that are the real tool.
If China retaliates against tariffs on exports to the U.S. with its own tariffs, it could increase prices for Chinese consumers.
While imposing tariffs in the past has done damage to the U.S. economy, today’s incoming tariffs are likely to have a different outcome for a multitude of reasons.
Consumers are concerned that imposing tariffs means retailers will raise the price of goods. But retailers are likely to look for other sourcing options and new strategies.
China isn’t about to let its export market go belly-up. Instead, it will do what it always does – pump money into its industries to soften the blow of U.S. tariffs.
Donald Trump’s election victory has huge implications for U.S. trade and tax policies, climate change, the war in Ukraine, electric vehicles, and illegal immigration. Here is a summary of policies he has said he will pursue in his second term.
COVID-19, a shift in China’s main focus, an imbalance in U.S. trade with China and more all mean reassessing how nations engage with global trade.
For months now, it has been clear that shippers have frontloaded record imports to the country, largely to avoid expected tariffs.
