LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -U.S. bookings for container transport from China to the United States spiked almost 300% in the wake of the United States and China pausing punishing tit-for-tat tariffs, container-tracking software provider Vizion said on Wednesday.
The average bookings for the seven days ended Wednesday soared 277% to 21,530 20-foot equivalent units from 5,709 TEUs for the average for the seven days that ended on May 5, said Ben Tracy, the company’s vice president of strategic business development said.
U.S. importers slammed the brakes on shipments after April 2, when Trump announced plans to slap 145% tariffs on goods made in China.
That trade restarted after the United States and China on Monday announced a 90-day thaw in their bruising trade war.
The United States said it would reduce tariffs it imposed on Chinese imports in April to 30% from 145%, while China reduced duties on U.S. imports to 10% from 125%.
“We are definitely starting to see the bookings return now that this temporary pause is in effect,” Tracy said.
German container shipping firm Hapag-Lloyd earlier on Wednesday said its bookings were up 50% for U.S.-China traffic week on week in the first few days of this week.
When asked about Washington and Beijing’s tariff truce, CEO Rolf Habben Jansen told Reuters: “I expect that there will be additional volume between China and the U.S. That is what we have already seen in the last few days.”
(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles, editing by Deepa Babington)
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