Context

April data shows U.S. imports falling, driven by Section 301 Tariffs impacts.

S&P Global Market Intelligence reports a 12th consecutive monthly decline.

April imports totaled roughly 2.635 million TEU, down 5.2% year-over-year.

For importers, shifts affect landed cost, inventory timing, and CBP compliance.

See recent U.S. import data for trend context U.S. import data.

April import overview

April’s annual decline was larger than March’s 0.4% decrease.

The month marked weaker flows for materials and capital goods sectors.

S&P noted the decline pace may reverse with stronger new manufacturing orders.

Sector drivers: materials and capital goods

Materials and capital goods paced the April decline, per S&P Global.

Shortages in metals and petrochemicals relate to the Middle East conflict.

Direct imports from the Middle East fell by 28.5% year-over-year in April.

Tariffs and Section 122 timing

Most consumer durables face Section 122 duties at a 10% rate.

Section 301 reviews on manufacturing capacity and labor costs could raise duties.

Current Section 122 duties are likely to expire in late July without action.

Operational impacts: landed cost and CBP compliance

Higher or extended tariffs will increase landed cost and compliance workload.

Importers must update cost build-ups and HTS classifications for tariff scenarios.

CBP compliance teams should prepare for retrospective duty assessments and potential audits.

1. Recalculate landed cost models regularly. This ensures pricing covers tariff and duty changes.

2. Document origin and production details. Such documentation supports tariff mitigation and audits.

3. Align inventory valuation with updated duties. This limits margin erosion and accounting surprises.

Peak season and inventory timing

Historically, peak consumer shipments arrive in August through October.

S&P expects peak shipments to pick up toward that August to October window.

Goods often exit Asian factories from late June onward for those peak arrivals.

Recommendations for importers

Importers should stress-test supply chains for tariff and material-shortage scenarios.

Levers include alternative sourcing, port diversification, and adjusted reorder points.

• Increase visibility into supplier lead times and buffer stocks.

• Negotiate flexible terms with carriers and forwarders.

• Use DDP options to simplify customs clearance and landed cost certainty.

For DDP pricing clarity, consider tools that model delivery and customs costs DDP shipping cost.

Strategic actions and contingency steps

Maintain a clear tariff response plan with triggers and owners.

Update contracts to reflect potential duty passthrough and inventory timing changes.

Stress-test cash flow for possible tariff increases and inventory build requirements.

1. Scenario planning: model tariff increases up to 10% for consumer durables. This quantifies margin and pricing exposure.

2. Sourcing contingency: secure secondary suppliers in ASEAN and other regions. This reduces single-source risk from affected suppliers.

Key Takeaways

April imports were roughly 2.635 million TEU, down 5.2% year-over-year.

Tariff timing and Section 122 expiration in late July raise landed cost risk.

Importers should update landed cost, reinforce CBP compliance, and plan sourcing contingencies.

April marked the Port of Los Angeles’ best month so far this year at nearly 891,000 twenty-foot equivalent units — the most volumes processed since August 2025, Executive Director Gene Seroka said during a May 12 media briefing.

Cargo flows remain steady at the Port of Los Angeles, with spring and summer merchandise already arriving, Seroka said. The next wave of imports will be back-to-school products and then early holiday inventory. Meanwhile, U.S. manufacturing has also remained steady, with the port reporting a consistent flow of parts and components.

Seroka further noted that while consumers are still buying at “near record paces,” they are bargain hunting — one of the few indicators as to how the ocean shipping market will shake out in the weeks and months ahead.

But while cargo remains steady, numbers will still be skewed compared to last year, which saw a wave of tariff announcements from the Trump administration.

“So, comparing this summer time to last, I think you've got elevated numbers for a variety of reasons on the policy side that we saw yet it's been really steady so far this year compared to the five year average,” Seroka said. “We're looking pretty good, that 2% uptick compared to all the ups and downs we've witnessed over recent times.”

While Transpacific trade is overall stable despite the Iran war, the conflict still casts a shadow over global trade. Specifically, the Strait of Hormuz remains closed which has disrupted the ocean shipping market. The waterway, which typically handles more than 100 ships a day, currently only has a “handful” moving through, Seroka said.

Seroka described the strait as a “critical global trade artery,” noting that the waterway transports about 20% of global energy, impacting oil and fuel costs. However, the closure also impacts fertilizers, aluminum, plastic and resin materials for everyday goods.

“So, the ripple effect is being felt not only in fuel markets but manufacturing inputs and airline operations,” Seroka said. He further added that in the last week alone, about 2,600 flights in Asia were either canceled or delayed due to fuel costs.

Even if the war ends, it will still take months to unwind the backlog of ships and eventually get vessels and cargo back into a typical schedule, Seroka said.

“What industry needs is a sustained, proven peace agreement, something that holds over time, even then, reopening the strait is just the start or the first step,” Seroka said.

Regardless, Seroka said that he doesn’t anticipate any rough spots looming, noting that while on a recent trip to three large cities in China, he didn’t see any canceled purchase orders at factories.

“It's just a matter of that narrow planning horizon or the short planning horizon and buy in what you speculate the American consumer is going to be doing 90 to 120 days in advance of those cargo containers coming in here,” he said.

This article was written by Kelly Stroh from Trucking Dive and was legally licensed through the DiveMarketplace by Industry Dive. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@industrydive.com.

Amazon recently announced it is opening its massive supply chain and logistics network to all businesses, including companies that do not sell on Amazon. The move expands Amazon’s logistics business beyond its own operations, opening its network, originally built for Amazon, to outside companies.During the Gartner Supply Chain Symposium/Xpo in Orlando last week, Vice President Peter Larsen discussed what led to the decision, how customers pushed Amazon in this direction, and why the company believes delivery speed and reliability can directly drive business growth. Larsen, who has been with Amazon for nearly 20 years, also explained how Amazon plans to scale the new offering and what companies can expect from the service.SC247: What changed internally that made Amazon decide to open its supply chain network to outside companies?Larsen: A couple of things. One was the fact that our Amazon supply chain capabilities had already been opened up to sellers a number of years ago. That went great. Those sellers began asking us to use it for their off-Amazon volume.Once that started happening and got to scale, it became a pretty obvious next step. We're already doing off-Amazon volume. It looks like it's filling a need, so let's go ahead and open it up to non-sellers as well. Customers were asking for it.The second thing is that when you build things for internal teams, you sometimes make decisions based on assumptions about who your customers are. We had to spend some time detaching there. A lot of our services assumed you were an Amazon seller and had an Amazon seller ID.If you didn't have an Amazon seller ID, our systems didn't really know what to do with it. We had to detach that a little bit.And finally, there were some aspects of our services that we had to work on externalizing. For example, bulk distribution, which is a pretty core part of any 3PL, is something we didn't really have until this year.Please click here to read the complete article.