Why Trump 2.0 tariffs could be worse for container lines than round one
- Tariffs in Trump’s second term are on a much larger scale and are coming at a much faster pace than during his first term
- The decision-making is different this time; agency heads and the private sector have been cut out of the loop
- Business uncertainty indexes in the US have skyrocketed, with tariff uncertainty prompting importers to ‘sit on their hands’, a negative for container demand
Some container line executives look back at the first Trump term — when tariffs were not a major negative for rates — and expect more of the same this time around. Yet the tariff dynamics of Trump 2.0 are very different, according to speakers at the TPM25 conference
