DECOUPLING:
This is great… the only problem is that there actually are – checks Bloomberg – exactly 53 ships headed for California's top ports, more than there were on this day one year ago. https://t.co/7uyg2tjI5c pic.twitter.com/lvwna4TWjy
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) May 10, 2025
Two possible takeaways from this one.
The first is that the “Stores will have empty shelves!” scare stories from last month might not amount to much. The other is that China very much — desperately? — needs to keep the export machine working overtime, even if they have to eat a substantial fraction of the tariffs. Maybe Beijing is kicking in? Or maybe US importers are counting on the super-high tariffs being temporary. Who knows.
Again, we’re early into this process and predictions are probably a fool’s game.