Container imports through U.S. maritime gateways in September declined 8.4% from August to more than 2.3 million, the third-highest September on record and 1.9% ahead of the same period in 2024 as resilient demand shook off trade uncertainty.
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Imports from China fell 12.3% month-over-month and 22.9% year-over-year, according to Descartes Datamyne. Steep declines were seen in aluminum, 43.8%, footwear, 33.9%, and electric machinery, 31.5%. A scant 1.5% drop was seen in plastics, which grew their share of total Chinese exports to 13.5%.
The losses come as the Trump administration restructures U.S. trade, using tariffs to leverage advantageous agreements with longtime trading partners while reshoring domestic manufacturing.
But the sweeping tariffs in some cases have had the opposite effect, leading China to find other export markets in Europe while making raw materials, machine tools and other inputs more expensive for American manufacturers.
The White House has taken particular aim at China, though damaging retaliatory tariffs that all but brought trade to a standstill earlier this year are winding down a second pause set to end Nov. 10.
The U.S. accounted for 11.9% of all of China’s exports in the first half of this year, even as shipments were lower by 10.7% y/y.
Descartes also noted that China imports face other pressures in the U.S. market, including the elimination of Customs import duties and fees for shipments valued under $800, to costly port fees on China-linked ships set to go into effect Oct. 14.
However, while the elimination of de minimis Customs duties have made exporting to the U.S. prohibitively expensive for smaller companies, Chinese retail giants Temu and Shein shifted from a direct shipping model to having U.S.-based sellers manage fulfillment as well as building their own warehouses in North America, to maintain pricing for U.S. consumers.
Descartes’ data for September also showed that imports from the top 10 countries of origin fell 9.4% month-over-month, or a total 169,126 TEUs. led by 106,751 TEUs from China. Substantially weaker volumes were seen from Italy, 15.1%, South Korea, 14.1%, Germany, 11.6%, Hong Kong, 11.2%, and Taiwan, 10.2%.
The top 10 U.S. ports saw containerized imports fall by 7.9% month-over-month, or a combined 169,455 TEUs. Declines were seen at Baltimore, 12.6%, Long Beach, 11.4%, and Savannah, 9.1%. Tacoma was the lone gainer, at 4.7%.
Find more articles by Stuart Chirls here.
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