Product shortages and empty store shelves loom with falling shipments from China

Retailers are warning that U.S. consumers could once again be faced with empty store shelves and the kind of supply chain snarls that marked the Covid era if President Donald Trump's tariffs on China remain at their current levels.

Retailers are warning that U.S. consumers could once again be faced with empty store shelves and the kind of supply chain snarls that marked the Covid era if President Donald Trump's tariffs on China remain at their current levels.

Companies have been canceling their shipments of goods from China and halting new orders after Trump put a 145% tariff on nearly all Chinese imports this month. As a result, the number of freight vessels scheduled to arrive at the Port of Los Angeles is on track to be down 33% year-over-year for the week ending May 10, according to ship tracking data from Port Optimizer.

Typically, U.S. retailers would be ramping up their orders for two critical periods later this year: the fall back-to-school shopping season and the winter holidays. And the pullback is creating uncertainty about whether U.S. shoppers will have the selection of goods they've grown accustomed to in the coming months.

"They're making their holiday buying decisions now," said Jonathan Gold, vice president of supply chain and customs policy for the National Retail Federation. "It's a challenge for folks to figure out how to properly order and price with all the uncertainty that's out there on the tariffs."

At the current tariff rate, a U.S.-based company would have to pay at least $145 in tariff fees to Customs and Border Protection to import an item valued at $100, except for electronics and pharmaceuticals, which are levied at a lower rate. That fee could wipe out any profit a company would be making and force it to sell its products at a loss or raise prices to levels that consumers might not be willing to pay.