US tariffs to China have affected trade volumes, but not in a negative way. Namely, container traffic across the Pacific has increased, with container ships being full. This situation is possible that will not last, but exports from south Asia may continue their increasing trend.
Considering the increase in the price to ship a 40ft container, Chinese exporters decided to fulfil orders before US trade tariffs become more widespread, Financial Times reported.
This comes after the announcement that the US will impose 10% tariffs on to $200bn worth of goods from China. This tariffs come to add on $50bn of tariffs that was already in place.
In addition, container rates between Shanghai and Los Angeles reported an increase of 40% as of September, Drewry mentioned. What is more, shipping costs to Europe have decreased. Bigger fleets in Europe are a key factor, but the man driver is the import tariff concern.
Trade war could also lead to a change in production away to south-east Asia. In fact, wages in China have gone up by 11% since 2008. Furthermore, routes from China to the US west coast are also more expensive.
Finally, rates from China to US may eventually decrease, but rates from south-east Asia could continue their progress.