[Freight Weekly] Tariffs Are Delayed. But Uncertainty Is Causing Issues.

🙉🙉President Donald Trump’s tariffs against Canada and Mexico are delayed for now. But he remains adamant about pressing China with a 10 percent levy. Despite the slight reprieve for U.S. companies and consumers, the uncertainty is being felt.

• China has retaliated against the Trump administration with tariffs on LNG, coal, and farm machinery. This was topped off by Beijing announcing an anti-trust investigation into Google’s operations in the country as being monopolistic.

• According to state media, China’s actions are a direct response to the 10 percent tariff levy the Trump White House smacked on hundreds of consumer products.

• The U.S. Postal Service even temporarily blocked the delivery of parcels to millions of U.S. recipients if the materials were from China or Hong Kong. This was rescinded quickly, as it would have disrupted many economic sectors.

• Negotiations between Washington and Beijing remain in limbo, per the NY Times.

• Where are we left with the tariff battles between the U.S. against Canada and Mexico? According to Trump, we are at a pause so that negotiations can occur.

• The pause comes as Trump claims that leaders for Canada and Mexico said they would beef up border security, especially along the U.S.-Mexico border. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced that she would send more federal forces to the Mexican side of the border to aid the U.S. agencies and military.

• However, Sheinbaum has remained staunch in her opposition to the racist and nationalistic rhetoric coming from Washington, D.C., to suggest that she and her government are in cahoots with transnational criminal organizations.

• To the North, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised stronger border controls with the country’s shared border with the contiguous U.S. and Alaska.

• Some observers and commentators, however, note that uncertainty spurred by the looming trade wars is already causing internal economic turmoil in the U.S.

• Writing for USA Today, economics and jobs reporter Paul Davidson observes that uncertainty is costing small and medium businesses a lot of money. Such uncertainty is causing U.S. companies to pause new hiring and investments. 

• Scott Anderson, chief economist and managing director at BMO Capital Markets, told Davidson in his reporting for USA Today: “The lingering threat of substantial new tariffs and possible retaliation from Canada and Mexico on U.S. exports will cause many businesses, small and large, to hold back more on hiring and investing than they would have otherwise due to the elevated uncertainty.”

Bottom line: Let’s stop pretending that tariffs are an effective foreign trade policy. So far, as demonstrated in our writing over the past few months, Trump’s tariffs will cause harm.

MORE: “Trump’s opening tariff salvo will hurt US consumers…” - The Conversation

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📰OTHER NEWS IN FREIGHT📰

🦺Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy reaffirmed his department’s commitment to safety after Reagan National Airport crashes and rail safety concerns. Duffy told the press on Jan. 31, “We will continue to support President [Donald] Trump’s directive to achieve uncompromised aviation safety. The American people deserve full confidence in our aviation system, and today’s action is a significant step towards restoring that trust.”

🇵🇦Panama President José Raúl Mulino is pissed, to say the least, and it’s at Donald Trump. Mulino told the world media that he is frustrated with “lies and falsehoods” about his country and Panama Canal, like a recent headline of misinformation from the Trump administration that a deal was struck that U.S. government ships can transit the canal free of charge. Mulino characterized the claim as “simply and plainly intolerable.”

The Panama Canal Authority posted a Spanish-language press statement on X stating that it didn’t agree to any such deal with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and that it is still charging fees on all vessels transiting through the canal, regardless of the nationality. 

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