On Thursday, the Port of Oakland reported that import volume reached a record high last month, possibly due to shippers rushing to beat import tariffs that kicked in this month.
The port said importers may have ordered aggressively in June ahead of tariffs imposed this month by the U.S. and China as the Trump administration ramps up an ongoing trade dispute.
Port of Oakland spokesman Mike Zampa said, “Aanalysts who look at the industry regularly tell us that importers may have been ordering more than usual this time of year to try and preempt the imposition of tariffs.”
But the question now is how will the tariff hikes impact future ship traffic from China: Port officials said it’s too soon to tell. They said the increases would have affected about $225 million of China imports had they been in place last year.
