Container Orders Plummet
April 22nd, 2025Bessent says he expects ‘de-escalation’ in U.S.-China tariff fight in the ‘very near future’:
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told investors in a closed-door meeting Tuesday he expects “there will be a de-escalation” in President Donald Trump’s trade war with China in the “very near future,” a person in the room told CNBC.
“No one thinks the current status quo is sustainable” with tariff rates at their current levels, Bessent said at a private investor summit in Washington, D.C., hosted by JPMorgan Chase.
Via: Daniel Lacalle:
Global container booking volumes fell by 49% between the last week of March and the first week of April 2025, according to Freight Waves. Imports from China to the United States collapsed by 64%, with imports of apparel and textiles declining by a whopping 59% and 57%, respectively. The figures coming from shipping companies are worse than those seen during the Covid-19 crisis.
These alarming figures suggest that importers are unwilling to accept higher prices in the middle of a tariff war, that exporters cannot simply choose to move their products elsewhere easily, and that the excess capacity in many sectors is much larger than initially expected.
No one wants to accept the cost of tariffs, and this means that the only option for the economies with elevated productive overcapacity is to negotiate a trade deal, and quickly, or face an economic depression.
Were I a Buffett type I’d be looking for the bottom on shipping.
Dennis – the submersible might implode on the way down.
@dale
I admit…I chuckled. Yo ho ho!