Shanghai : A few days before Christmas, the container ship “SM Shanghai” was steaming toward California’s Port of Long Beach. Just ahead and coming to the end of an 11-day journey from China, the “Ever Lucent” was headed for the nearby Port of Los Angeles, where the “Thomas Jefferson” was preparing to sail in the opposite direction for Xiamen.
The global economy, in other words, was chugging along nicely on one of the world’s busiest sea lanes. Trade wars be damned.
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In fact, President Donald Trump’s assault on globalisation has had a paradoxical effect on world trade flows. A rush to get ahead of new and higher tariffs, particularly on US imports from China, has motivated retailers and other American companies to increase orders, which has helped boost volumes at the country’s ports.
“The warehouse and distribution centers are full in southern California,” said Phillip Sanfield, a Port of Los Angeles spokesman. “We’re experiencing some logistical issues at the San Pedro ports just because there’s so much cargo in play here.”
