Tariffs and fuel squeeze imports

Tariffs and higher fuel bills are squeezing United States imports, with retailers cutting orders and reworking shipping plans as 2026 gets underway. (nrf.com) The National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates said major United States ports handled 1.95 million twenty-foot equivalent units in February 2026, down 7.5 percent from January and 4.2 percent from a year earlier. Their April 8 report projected March at 1.97 million units, down 8.3 percent year over year. (nrf.com) The same forecast put April at 2.08 million units, down 5.6 percent from a year earlier, before a rebound to 2.09 million in May and 2.1 million in June. The first half of 2026 is still expected to total 12.3 million units, down 1.8 percent from 12.53 million in the same period of 2025. (nrf.com) The trade-policy hit is coming first. The retail group said President Donald Trump announced a temporary 10 percent global tariff in March after the Supreme Court ruled on February 20, 2026, that tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act were illegal. (nrf.com) (budgetlab.yale.edu) Trump then adjusted Section 232 tariffs on imported steel, aluminum and copper and announced new Section 232 tariffs on pharmaceutical products and ingredients in early April, adding another layer of cost and uncertainty for importers. (nrf.com) Fuel is the second pressure point. Hackett Associates said the conflict involving Iran has not yet significantly reduced cargo moving through major United States ports, but the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz is pushing up bunker fuel prices for container ships worldwide. (nrf.com) Jonathan Gold of the National Retail Federation said retailers are dealing with vessel rerouting, equipment out of position and higher fuel costs, while Ben Hackett said higher ship fuel costs raise the price of moving both import and export containers. Both said those costs can reach consumers. (nrf.com) The tariff effect is already showing up in consumer-price data. The Budget Lab at Yale said the 2025 tariffs lifted the effective tariff rate to 10.6 percent in January 2026 and estimated imported core goods and durable goods prices both rose 1.5 percent during 2025 through January. (budgetlab.yale.edu) Retailers have been adjusting for months. In December 2025, the National Retail Federation said declining import cargo volumes were expected to continue through 2026 as stores entered the year with inventories already built up and trade policy still unsettled. (nrf.com) For now, the import slowdown looks less like a port shutdown story than a cost story. Cargo is still moving, but tariffs and fuel are making each container harder to justify. (nrf.com)