(NewsNation) — A commissioner for the Port of Seattle says he expects imports from Asia to slow down as the trade war between the United States and China intensifies, and believes this will lead to a shortage of some types of goods available here.
Ryan Calkins tells “The Hill on NewsNation” that his West Coast import hub is busy for now, but added, “We’re starting to see the canary in the coal mine struggling.”
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As President Donald Trump’s steep tariffs on many Chinese goods continue, Calkins said some ships that normally make runs between Asia and the U.S. have been taken off their regular schedule.
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“They’ll pull those ships out of rotation,” Calkins explained. “There’s just nothing to put on them. Factories have stopped producing in China. U.S. customers have asked to hold those orders until they have some clarity on tariffs. There’s not as much outbound, either, because the same is happening in reverse.”
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Ultimately, he said, the supply of certain types of Chinese goods will become scarcer.
“There are certain things we will start to see a real disruption in — things like ‘fast fashion,’ your sneakers. I was thinking the other day about my kid’s soccer cleats. Should I buy a pair now, for the fall … are those prices going to double?”
Trump’s tariffs on China
Trump has tariffed many Chinese imports at 145%, while China has levied its own triple-digit tariffs on U.S. goods. Even if the trade war were to be settled immediately, Calkins said, it would take time for the supply chain to rebound.
“The system works best when there’s a steady flow of goods,” he said.
On Friday, Trump ended the tariff exemption on low-value packages coming from China. This means prices could be raised and delivery times could be delayed for millions of packages each day.
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This extension was originally put into place because sometimes, a tariff fee on small packages could cost more than the package itself. Now, any qualifying postal items will either have a 30% duty or a $25 fee per item. That will increase to $50 per item in June, according to the White House.
For small businesses that make their products in the U.S. using items from China, the end of this exemption is another reason things could get more expensive for consumers.
