b'16E CEMBER 2025Transportation ajot.comAmerican Journal ofD ANALYSIS & PERSPECTIVE 7China striking at heartDisclaimer (REVIEWcontinued fromders is just as crucial.Notes to the AJOTs top importerspage 4) Second, Craig is looking for and exporters charts Descartes-Datamynedatafor two specific outcomes. theUSMCAreviewtoaddress of Europes industrialprovides12monthsofaggre- First,increasingefficiencytherulesfordutydrawback. gatedstatisticsonthewater- and resources to facilitate smoothUSMCAgoodsthatcrossthe By George Lauriat, AJOT bornetradingactivityofUSand safe trade across the border.border multiple times and were and innovation model importers in the US. Consistentapplicationofrulesultimately bound for export were The Importers and Export- chartsarelargelythosewhichForcompaniesthathaveacross entry points, world classexcludedfromdutydrawback, ers charts for 2026 highlight theappearundertheimportersmultiplelocationsorunitstechsystemsandconnectivity,but since the application of tariffs largest US ocean importers andown name or sourcing company.engaged in trade, trade statisticsand reliable crossing times allowhas changed, this drawback eligi-By Stuart Todd, AJOTexportersintermsofTwentyAdditionally,importersandareaggregatedbyindividualfor improved capacity planningbility should be re-examined.FootREquivalent exrapnocretesr sc oalroer sn otottlheeg amllays tb, ocuonnd-location or unit, and then totaledand increased efficiency. The most successful com-eturning fro mUnits wha t(TEUs). was his FFor sta tthirty Ch the at the toincdinisgc liotss eE UB pOaLrt neinrsf otrom daot itohne, atthecompanyheadquartersWeexpectfreightvol- paniesareusingthismoment, four thovere visi t yearstoinaAJOT vhas f last week the, Fr elistsnchPandres iwithdent aanmd em, aton yf orm e sap uenciiatelldyEthuer olapregaenr level, as identified by D&B, orumes from Mexico to continuewhile tariffs have stabilized and endoassembled sEmmanuel Macro nnames f m by Descartes-Datamyne if D&Bto increase because manufactur- beforethereviewreachesits each, many newhas th reemerateneged iropnot,r wteirlslbecnhoo soisme ptole k teaespk .t hFeoirrwhile in data is not available. ing continues to nearshore awaydecision points, to solidify their Beijing many withhighlytariffs i nrecognizable the coming exfaomrmplaet,i oGne rcmonafni dfiernmtisa sl.till have brand it oremain the a stroForngpreexample,sence inChWinal-Marta. And Descartes-Datamynedatafrom China and Southeast Asia,strategies,Craigconcludes. month s namesifd es not takesame.mea- And exceeded a doesNOTincludeinformationCraigexplains.ThatmeansThe current lull in tariff escala-surestofteno reducthese he admitsth atmillion bigg einste its e nnewormou s comtrade- Europ eTEUss panies staplesoftheim ov enro ta ydte fcualdlyeoang ob oaanrdd onshipmentsforwhichthecross-borderinfrastructurewilltion, driven in large part by the surpluswbecomeith the EU. ecopnoormtsy is eAmerican economyaswith W al-MartFrench likitehly t hhe aFs reencclihp saepdp rtowacoh.m consigneeisNOTidentified.need to continue to improve toUSChina truce in place through In aninterview wHiloliwon- has demonstrated years ago and, TvEeUr, s uanndneura lClyh. aBnucte rlalorerl yM deor zth, eiyt Generally,theseareshipmentsaccommodateincreasingvol- late2026,isgivingthemjust business newspaper, Les Echos eheclaimedthat . t eo bveecno ma in1g0 0a,0w0a0r eTofUf s thoef handled by an intermediary suchumes.Butingeneral,everyenough breathing room to tighten Amazon has today Chinawasro p orist e Eatertheesp echeartts, th c hatherts i mbpaolratsn.ceso tnhvaet resxeilyst,wTihtheCHhoinmae.asanNVOCCorotherthird- USMCAcountryneedstotheirprocesses.Forcompanies strikingIn som eof im CEuropean industrial tsnum bgoeserson to party service provider. improveitsinfrastructure.Thethat use this review window to measure more than asandingl e innocom DepoMacron have go nare guethevation his that re porestoring Note,too,thatcompaniesborder process is only efficientmodernizetheirdocumentation, panyspmodel,erforma nwhichce. Th ehasre was a-othe r thewa ypath from to rting justobalve-r torically ance 0TEUsEurope nearly maynotbeidentifiedinship- as its weakest link. And while wehardentheirsuppliernetworks, time thatbeenthe m basedoveme onntomachinef freight 18,00 between in2022 andtoChinatools automobiles, requires ef Us in 2025. mentrecordsbecausetheyareall tend to think of supply chainsandbuildoptionalityintotheir on ra ilandroads were the me aaddingsure of 200,000 TEforts on both sides.that ealthofthDonaldcorump First , larEugestropemimportersust re-co mtendmit exercisingtheirlegalrighttoascontrolledbytheprivateNorthAmericanrouting,the thehPresident eUSeT nomys. Theprotectionisttedchonic leonlyrto p omega-retailers restrictthepublicreleaseofsector, the governments role inoutcome of the USMCA review Butasthenostance rwas of to abe licyofcompe titalthoughiveness,UScontainerports,JohnD.overthelastfewyearsfreshinformation abouttheirtradingenablingthesafeandefficientcan be a manageable event rather making matters worse. (STRIKINGcontinued on topUScont aiandner pexacerbates (NOTEScontinued on page 38) activities. movement of freight across bor- than a disruption.McCTheown(Americanauthor oftresponsehe month lisy page 12) Steel coils are displayed at a ThyssenKrupp steel factory in Duisburg, Germany. REUTERS/Leon Kuegelerinappropriate ortreview,M cCproblems hasrelatedour ownRep orbyt) redirectingthe meas uflowsre ofemassivelyconomic s utoc couressChinesenow might be measured by the markets, Macron pointed out.flowAsofa cresult, t hare hUSontain ewersrou gcaughtcontaine r thepor tstwo,. An d andtheith eaislt habetweenof theUofS life eco andnom deathy is i forntri Eurocately- matterinterw industry.Witeshaveinte rbecomenationalpean ovenintrad adjustmentthe e performan market,ce. In tru andth, w thathenimporters and exporters do well, is the worst-case scenario.the UTheS e cEUonosm tradey do edeficits well.withAndChina estimaa nhavewhenUisS importedters to d ex psurorters don300ot dowbillionell, th e inco2024.passed nverseis al s27o t ruEuropeane.TheUnion mem-berscannotsettradepolicy, c HArting tHec OurSe : H Owincludingtariffs,individually, tHel iSt wASM Adeinstead being represented by the EU Commission. Importersand TheTop ExpoMrtearcsr ocnh aurtnsd heirglihnleigdh tt hthaetClahrgiea S on st sU risec eaanndimthpe ourtnerrisv aanllded e xcpoomrtp rsti tiinv eTnEeUsssoraf thites r itnhdauns tirnytownassoareesdeorliloaurss.isTshueefcohra rEtsu raorpee abnass.e Nd eovn- edratthae flerossm, h oec reeamn aiminpeodr htso fpreofmulbthilalstthfe rlaed winagsss(tBillO aL ws)ay htoic ha mfoicrabtlay- o w ster isstoiclvaleptuhrep osuenss auvsetaraingaebsl tehi st rtaaldleysouurtp ilnutso b TeEtwUese.n F Eour rtohpiseraenadso Cnh, itnhaeantda lse xdporessoetdehxiasc wto n tlyil lainliggnne sws ittoha e a eyaUppSr opaocrhtTdEoUpttao taglisv repnodrt etdak bwith the Xi Jinping regime.authorities.Equally,allboxes However,hehadwarned (TEUs)arentcreatedequalas theChinesethatiftheydid the dollar value of one item such not respond, Europe would be as electronics can be vastly larger forced, in the coming months, than say paper products or agri-totakedecisiveactionand culturalproductslikehay. Also, follow the example of the U.S., somefreightcubesoutand such as imposing tariffs on Chi-other freight weighs out as the nese products.density of the items varies enor-Macronindicatedthathe mously. Agricultural commodities had discussed this with the Pres-arebytheirnatureheavierthan ident of the European Commis-consumer items such as apparel or sion, Ursula von der Leyen.electronics. The difference in the freight is part of the reason the US a utomobiLeS : F irSt - everhas an imbalance in TEU imports t raded eFicitto exports. Simply put, imported In 2025, for the first time, consumergoodstakeupmore Europe will have a trade deficit containers than exported weighty withChinaintheautomobile commodities. And import contain-sector, and the situation is dete-ersaregenerallymorevaluable riorating even more rapidly for than US exports.automotivepartsaccordingto Foroveradecade,the OEM sub-contractors.information in the AJOTs Top Andthisdevelopmentis USImporterschartisderived notjustdowntothesteady fromDescartes-Datamynes growth in Chinese car volumes [www.datamyne.com]excellent heading for markets in the EU data driven intelligence service andtheUKbutalsoexports (www.datamyne.com). The data ofvehiclessuchastheBMW wasassembledwithcare,but Mini,VolkswagenCupraand asacaveat,allinformationis Tesla Model 3 made in China wrought with so many variables - a result of Western manufac-thattheresultaswellshould turersseekingoutlower-cost be viewed with care.[See Dis-manufacturing conditions.claimer above on this page]As recently as 2022, the bal-ancewaspositive,inEuropes A MericASS HipperSfavor, at 15 billion.Also, US importers frequently use third parties for the entry of e veningo ut thep LayingF ieLdgoodWs hthilues M n b ina iltehdethaecrounmhearss n'