US Port Activity to Rise This Summer, as Retailers Try to Beat New Tariffs, Says NRF

The National Retail Federation expects imports this summer and fall at major U.S. retail container ports to keep increasing “as retailers stock up inventory to get ahead” of higher Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports, said the group Friday. “With a major tariff increase already announced” on List 3 and the “possibility that tariffs could be imposed on nearly all goods and inputs from China, retailers are continuing to stock up while they can to protect their customers as much as possible against the price increases that will follow,” said NRF. “Tariffs are taxes paid by American businesses and consumers, not foreign governments. Retailers will continue to do everything they possibly can to mitigate the impact of tariffs on consumers, but if we see further escalation in the trade war, it will be much more difficult to avoid higher price tags on a wide range of products. It’s time to stop using American families as pawns in negotiations for better trade deals.” The Trump administration’s threat to impose tariffs on all imports from Mexico would have no effect on “cargo numbers at U.S. seaports” because those goods “travel by truck or train,” it said. NRF estimates U.S. ports handled 1.75 million 20-foot-long cargo containers or their equivalents in April, an 8.4 percent increase sequentially from March and a 6.9 percent increase year over year, it said. It forecasts volume will peak in August and October, making for highest monthly totals since record shipments last October “as retailers rushed to bring merchandise into the country ahead of expected tariff increases,” it said.