Freight Forwarding Services NAICS 488510

Mar 6, 2026 - Importers Scramble Again on Tariffs

• Following the Supreme Court's invalidation of broad US tariffs in February, American importers face significant uncertainty as the Trump administration imposed new 10-15% global tariffs while legal battles continue. A federal judge ordered refunds of the $130 billion collected under the previous tariffs and a 24-state lawsuit is challenging the new ones. For businesses relying on Chinese manufacturing, the whiplash is severe: some companies are racing to accelerate shipments before higher rates potentially return in July, while others are delaying planned price increases while the trade landscape settles. During 2025, many companies absorbed substantial tariff costs rather than pass them on to customers. Smaller firms (custom furniture makers, for example) report falling sales and operational paralysis, with the overriding theme being that unpredictability itself has become one of the greatest threats to American importers' ability to plan and operate.
• US West Coast container gateways are expected to remain congestion-free in early 2026 as soft deep-sea import volumes persist, according to S&P Global. Tariff-related demand swings left West Coast imports up just 0.1% through November of last year, with cargo frontloading earlier in 2025 giving way to double-digit declines in the fall. Despite volatility, West Coast ports retained 59% of US container imports from Asia through November, unchanged year over year. Pacific deep sea carriers benefited from shorter transit times than East Coast routes, helping preserve market share. Ports handled sharp peaks - including a record 1.2 million TEUs of imports in July - without congestion due to improved forecasting and coordination across carriers, terminals, truckers, and railroads. Looking ahead, inflation, weaker consumer confidence, rising unemployment, and tariff uncertainty are expected to suppress demand into mid-2026, limiting near-term growth for deep sea shipping services on the West Coast.

• The trucking market slid back in Q3 as the brief spring rebound reversed, leaving carriers squeezed by weak volumes and shifting capacity, according to US Bank data. National shipment volumes fell 10.7% year-over-year, and the US Bank Shipments Index dropped 2.9% sequentially, signaling the market’s renewed contraction. Major carriers showed mixed but troubling results: Old Dominion’s LTL tonnage per day fell about 9%, TFI International’s tonnage declined 7.4%, and FedEx Freight saw average daily freight pounds slide roughly 12%. XPO offset a 6.1% tonnage drop with a 5.7% increase in LTL revenue per hundredweight, but overall demand remains soft. Shipper spend rose 2% sequentially as fleets exit capacity and fuel surcharges bite. With manufacturing contracting, truckload and LTL volumes look likely to stay under pressure into 2025 unless demand rebounds.
• Containership arrivals at the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach, which together handle one-third of US container imports, fell 17% in early May 2025 amid the off-again, on-again Trump tariff policy. Port officials said the ships that did arrive were carrying less cargo than normal, which ripples across the supply chain in less hours for dockworkers and warehouse employees, and less cargo for truckers to haul. Nearby restaurants and businesses also see depressed sales when the port is not busy. (Port of LA officials say every four containers entering the port supports one job nationwide.) According to the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, the lull is causing full-time dockworkers to cut their working days to only three or four a week, while part timers are essentially idle. Port officials largely blame US-China trade tensions that make cargo unaffordable and contribute to economic uncertainty.