NEW YORK – America’s ports are fearful that they will be big losers as theescalating trade fight between Washington and Beijing bites into business.
The anxiety is that tit-for-tat tariffs between the two economicsuperpowers will crimp shipments, denting port revenues.
Kurt Nagle, head of the American Association of Port Authorities, calledthe state of play “concerning,” following the latest back-and-forth thisweek between the United States and China.
“The total amount of tariffs and international retaliation affect 10 percent of the total trade in American ports,” or about $160 billion inrevenues, Nagle said.
The various trade wars thus far have had a mixed effect, with some portsseeing sharp declines in some products, even as others report a surge inactivity intended to beat the new levies.
The mammoth US economy is sustained by about 100 ports around the countrythat manage the flow of goods inward and outbound at points of embarkationalong the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, the Gulf of Mexico and the GreatLakes.
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In the first six months of 2018, the port of New Orleans saw a drop of350,000 tons of steel compared with the year-ago period, a big hit for aflagship product that is used in a petroleum-focused region.
“It represents between three and five million dollars,” said Robert Landry,vice president of the Port of New Orleans. “For us it’s very big.”
Major sources of the steel include Turkey, China and South Korea. All butSouth Korea were affected by a 25 per cent tariff on steel imposed by USPresident Donald Trump this spring.
The New Orleans port also suffered a 10 per cent drop in aluminum imports,which was also included in the same tariff action, while retaliatoryChinese tariffs on poultry have hit those exports. – APP/AFP
