Trump de-escalation on tariffs, news by Hebei Longsheng
| Trump's de-escalation may reduce peak shipping disruption The Trump administration has modestly de-escalated the trade war by splitting the so-called "list 4" tariff group – where duties of 10% were due from Sept. 1 – into two parts. The minority part, worth $108.8 billion in terms of imports in the 12 months to Jun. 30 and known as list 4A will have duties of 10% applied from Sept. 1. The leading product lines include certain apparel lines worth $38.8 billion and TVs/monitors worth $8.6 billion. List 4B, which covers $154.8 billion of products. includes phones, laptops, toys and the remaining apparel items. Tariffs on those products will be delayed until Dec. 15 at a 10% rate. Importantly the restructuring reduces the risk of interrupting seasonal peak shipments. Imports of the list 4B apparel items typically peaked in August in the past three years. Shipments of toys normally reach a maximum in toys whilephones peak in October or November; and laptops peak in November or December. So far only laptops showed signs of stockpiling with a 39.1% year over year rise in June – likely after earlier talks failed in May – with all other list 4B items down 0.1%. |
