United States (US) presidential contender Donald Trump’s plan to hike tariffs on imports if he is elected back to the White House in November would send cargo rates soaring and accelerate inflation, just like it did during his 2017-21 term, shipping and retail experts said.
Trump, who is running against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the November 5 election, has floated second-term plans for blanket tariffs of 10 percent to 20 percent on virtually all imports as well as tariffs of 60 percent or more on goods from China, in a bid to boost US manufacturing.
In their debate on Tuesday, Harris called his proposal a “Trump sales tax” that will hurt working families, and has not released her own plan for tariffs. President Joe Biden has delayed implementing a proposed quadrupling of tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles to 100 percent, and a doubling of duties on semiconductors and solar cells to 50 percent. He had also proposed new 25 percent tariffs on lithium-ion batteries, steel and other goods.
“Trump’s import tariffs are ‘history repeating’ and will cause a spike in ocean container shipping markets—with consumers picking up the cost,” said Peter Sand, chief analyst at shipping pricing platform Xeneta.
The National Retail Federation, which represents Walmart, and other companies that account for almost half of container shipping volume, is among the industry groups opposed to Trump’s proposed tariffs.
