Container ships berthed at the Yangshan Deepwater Port in Shanghai on Oct. 10.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/BloombergTrump’s Tariff Threats Are Setting Off a Global Supply Chain ‘Freakout’
US and European companies are frontloading orders and weighing price hikes while Chinese factories hunt for buyers elsewhere
A two-hour drive west of Shanghai, Sunny Hu has spent almost two months since the US election rushing shipments of her company’s outdoor furniture and pavilions to American customers and racing to diversify Hangzhou Skytech Outdoor Co. Ltd. into other markets.
Meanwhile, in the heart of Germany’s Riesling belt, eighth-generation winemaker Matthias Arnold has been fielding an influx of special orders from US importers since Donald Trump’s victory. He’s rushing to fill as many as possible before the president-elect can bring back levies on European wines that he imposed in 2019 but the Biden administration suspended.