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China Tariffs Rumored to Come Down
Over the past couple of weeks—starting with a meeting with major retailers on April 21st—the administration’s posture has been that tariffs on China will be coming down. The Wall Street Journal reported at the time that if there is no outreach from China, the US may unilaterally reduce the tariffs by 20%–60%. As the parties are expected to start discussions tomorrow, May 9th, in Switzerland, the New York Post is reporting that tariffs may drop by around 50%–54%, returning to the original 34% reciprocal tariff announced on April 2nd, plus the 20% fentanyl tariff. As of now, there are no official confirmations, but the move seems to align with recent messaging from the White House.
Trade Agreement with the UK
On May 8th, the US and the UK reached an agreement on trade. This is the first such agreement since the tariffs were announced on April 2nd and is expected to be the first of many. In this agreement, the 10% tariffs will remain, but there will be certain sectoral exemptions such as cars and steel. If this deal is an indicator of future agreements, we can expect tariffs to remain in place for most countries, with certain sectors having different rates per country.
Pakistan–India Freight Disruption
Over the past week, shipments from Pakistan have seen disruptions due to the ongoing conflict between India and Pakistan. As a lot of cargo from Pakistan transits via Indian ports, they are now being forced to reroute through Colombo or other Middle Eastern countries like Oman. For any detailed questions about this, please reach out to our team at [email protected].