The first pause of triple-digit tariffs between the US and China prompted a container shipping surge. The second pause? Not so much.

The US and China in May took a 90-day breather from triple-digit tariffs that largely halted container ship traffic between the world’s two largest economies. Shippers and buyers raced to get Chinese goods on the water to the US during that window in a supply-driven surge to pump up inventories ahead of the holiday shopping season. Mid-August brought another 90-day pause as trade negotiations between the two nations continued, but this time shippers and buyers largely yawned. 

Kristen Hays, manager of the Americas freight pricing team, and Aroob Sheikh and Catherine George, reporters for North and South American container freight markets, discuss the ups and downs of the two biggest players in global trade.

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Platts Container Rate 13 North Asia-WC North America PCR1300Platts Container Rate 5 North Asia-EC North America PCR0500Platts Container Rate 29 North Asia-WC South America PCR2900Platts Container Rate 31 North Asia-EC South America PCR3100