DETROIT/LONDON/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Automakers are scrambling to ship vehicles to the United States to pre-empt possible higher tariffs, according to port data, port officials and logistics companies.
Data from a number of U.S. ports showed a surge in vehicle exports and imports in May, as U.S. President Donald Trump ratcheted up pressure on China and Europe to drop tariffs on U.S. vehicles and make other changes to their trade practices. May is the most recent month for which figures are available.
The Trump administration’s tariffs on $34 billion of Chinese imports are due to go into effect at 0401 GMT on Friday, which is just after midday in Beijing.
In the United States, the ports of Baltimore, Jacksonville, Florida; and Brunswick, Georgia - the three leading U.S. ports for importing automobiles - in May unloaded a combined 23,000 more cars than they did a year earlier. Auto exports out of Baltimore and Jacksonville that month were up 39 percent and 19 percent, respectively, port officials said.
At the port of Long Beach, whose auto customers include Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) and also Daimler AG (DAIGn.DE)’s Mercedes-Benz, vehicle imports were up 3.4 percent in May, but exports were down 24 percent at 1,679 units.
Vehicle imports in Norfolk, Virginia, rose more than 350 percent to 3,782 vehicles, partly due to General Motors Co (GM.N) importing some cars from Mexico by sea to circumvent U.S. rail network problems.
According to DataStream, which has weekly railcar loading data by product type, the four-week rolling sum
