04/28/2025

With Falling Shipments from China, Product Shortages and Empty Store Shelves Loom

Companies have been canceling shipments after the imposition of the 145% tariff

Retailers are warning that U.S. consumers could once again be faced with empty store shelves and the kind of supply chain snarls that marked the COVID era if President Donald Trump's tariffs on China remain at their current levels.

Companies have been canceling their shipments of goods from China and halting new orders after Trump put a 145 percent tariff on nearly all Chinese imports this month. As a result, the number of freight vessels scheduled to arrive at the Port of Los Angeles is on track to be down 33 percent year-over-year for the week ending May 10, according to ship tracking data from Port Optimizer.

Typically, U.S. retailers would be ramping up their orders for two critical periods later this year: the fall back-to-school shopping season and the winter holidays. And the pullback is creating uncertainty about whether U.S. shoppers will have the selection of goods they've grown accustomed to in the coming months

Please select this link to read the complete article from NBC News.