Trump has two weeks to save America from empty shelves
25 April 2025 6:00am BST
Donald Trump has kept the world on edge with a trade policy that seems to change by the day.
So far, American consumers have been shielded from much of the impact. But as the world of international shipping adjusts to his policies, the president is facing a potential reckoning.
With the US-China trade war starting to gum up container traffic between the world’s two biggest economies, freight companies are warning of plunging bookings and a surge in “blank sailings” – where ports are skipped or voyages are called off altogether.
Earlier this week, America’s most powerful retail executives trooped into the White House to deliver a blunt prognosis: tariffs on Chinese goods risked causing “empty shelves” in two weeks without a change of course.
The three companies who attended the meeting – Walmart, Target and Home Depot – are among the most exposed to the president’s policies, which include tariffs of up to 145pc on Chinese goods and higher port fees for Chinese-made vessels.
Walmart sources roughly 60pc of its imports from China, including clothing, electronics and toys, according to Reuters’ research, while around 50pc of Target’s suppliers are also based there.
Many retailers and manufacturers will have a “buffer” of stock kept in warehouses and other storage facilities that will have initially allowed them to weather any disruptions.
But these can only last so long, usually a matter of weeks. And after that point, retailers will face a choice: pay the tariffs and either swallow the extra cost or pass them on to customers; or stop buying goods from China and accept shortages on shelves.
Sailing into trouble
There are signs that many American companies are now responding by cancelling orders, at least temporarily.
It takes about two to three weeks for vessels from the east coast of China to make their way to the west coast of America.
According to data published by the Port of Los Angeles, which handles large amounts of goods shipped from Chinese ports including Shanghai, container traffic was 56pc higher this week than a year earlier, likely reflecting a flood of orders that were placed just before Trump’s “liberation day” tariff announcement on April 2.