HONG KONG/NEW YORK — Asian exporters continue to front-load shipments to the U.S. in fits and starts, as U.S. President Donald Trump pulls tariff levers and threatens hefty fees on Chinese vessels.
U.S.-bound container volumes surged in the first two months of 2025, with the Port of Los Angeles reporting the busiest start in its 117-year history. U.S. ports tracked by the National Retail Federation (NRF) handled 4.3 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in the first two months this year, fresh data showed this week, versus 3.91 million last year. February, typically the slowest month due to the Lunar New Year holidays in China, was the busiest it had been in three years.
