US importers race to prepare for Donald Trump’s threatened tariffs

Port customers are said to ask: ‘How much cargo can I bring in before warehouses start busting at the seams?’

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Published: 4:44am, 3 Dec 2024Updated: 5:11am, 4 Dec 2024

Donald Trump’s return to the White House is set to have profound implications for China, the world and the United States itself. In the first of a three-part series, Khushboo Razdan looks at how US firms that import goods from China are scrambling to find ways to cope with the threat of tariffs and at the implications of tighter trade policies on America’s ports and on its economy.

Just a few weeks before last month’s US election, Jimmy Zollo made an urgent move to protect his fast-growing adaptive clothing start-up, Joe & Bella, in case then-candidate Donald Trump won the White House.

When polls showed Trump ahead of his Democratic opponent, Vice-President Kamala Harris, the Chicago-based entrepreneur did not want to take any chances on the prospect of more tariffs on imports from China. His panic button: an order for 5,000 shirts with his supplier in Guangzhou.

“It was the largest order to date on our men’s button-down shirts, so we could get ahead of what was coming,” he said, explaining that the decision was because of Donald Trump’s pledge earlier this year to impose new hefty tariffs on Chinese imports. Zollo hoped the increased inventory would provide a buffer to navigate the challenges ahead.

But the situation has only grown more urgent. On November 25, president-elect Trump announced a 10 per cent tariff on all Chinese imports, expected to take effect on his first day in office, January 20.

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“He came out and said, 10 per cent – all caps, all from China – that definitely scared us,” Zollo said, calling the new tariffs “a big deal” as he scrambled to secure more inventory before the new tariffs are implemented.

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