The OOCL Violet, a hulking shipping vessel that pulled into the Port of Long Beach on April 24, loaded with thousands of containers full of goods bound for the US, tells the story of President Donald Trump’s trade war in one ship. The Violet is one of the first ships facing the 145% tariff rate on nearly half of its cargo. On board are fish, sneakers, forklifts, latex medical gloves, car windshields and more. When the Violet first began loading cargo in Dalian, China, most Chinese goods faced a 20% additional US tariff rate. The tariffs surge means about 40% of the goods likely faced the new 145% top rate, according to Bloomberg News estimates. The data suggests importing companies face at least $417 million in new tariffs for all goods on the ship. That’s on top of preexisting import fees. The final tariff hike took effect just hours before the ship left Shanghai. One example: the 5.7 million pounds of Chinese-sourced knitted apparel aboard the Violet incurred the highest estimated new tariffs of any category. Nearly three-quarters of these goods were likely subject to the top rate. This category included everything from major brands, such as women’s vests destined for Ross Stores, to work gloves valued at $230,000 headed to Kansas City. Trump has said the first of new trade deals could be agreed as soon as this week. “It could very well be,” Trump told reporters on Sunday when asked whether any trade agreements were coming this week. He didn’t specify any countries. If a deal is announced, it will be notable in the sense that it may offers a road map for others to follow. Governments, executives and trade lawyers will focus on which concessions the US accepted, which non tariff barriers were adjusted and what was agreed on tariff levels. How all of these are answered will be crucial nuggets for future trade negotiations. India, Japan and South Korea are among the contenders to reach a quick deal with Washington. Yet skeptics say it will take months, if not years, to wade through protracted negotiations that ultimately lead to any in depth trade agreement. Whatever is signed by the Trump administration in the space of weeks will merely be a starting point for a much longer process. Moreover, reaching agreement with trade allies is one thing, but finding an off ramp for the trade dispute with China is a whole other matter. As the cost of the goods on the OOCL Violet shows, the impact of the trade dispute has a long way to play out. —Enda Curran in Washington and Andre Tartar in New York Bloomberg’s tariff tracker follows all the twists and turns of global trade wars. Click here for more of Bloomberg.com’s most-read stories about trade, supply chains and shipping. |