American President Donald Trump’s on/off “liberation day” tariff campaign has resulted in an early rush as US companies “frontload” shipments of goods and components from overseas suppliers to postpone the impact of higher costs.Global Port Tracker reports record volumes for US ports during the first quarter of 2025.“Retailers are continuing to bring as much merchandise into the country ahead of rising tariffs as possible,” National Retail Federation vice president for supply chain and customs policy, Jonathan Gold, said at the release of its Global Port Tracker report, which is produced in partnership with Hackett Associates.The rush, as with the traditional one before the Christmas season, is expected to be short-lived.“Many importers who’ve built up inventory are likely to be able to reduce or pause orders and shipments until the tariff dust settles,” writes Judah Levine, head of research at the Freightos Group. “This move will see container volumes and rates drop, possibly significantly, soon and could be one factor that will cause a very subdued peak season period this year – similar to how a tariff-driven pull forward in 2018 led to somewhat lower container rates and demand in 2019,” he predicts.Drewry forecasts that the demand will drop in late June or July. This can already be seen in container bookings from China to the United States.SONAR’s Container Atlas of container movements shows that daily bookings on the route dropped by 25% year-on-year after an initial rush early in 2025. ER
