Trump’s tariff setback could spark surge in Chinese imports to US: analysts

Importers in the United States are expected to front-load goods from China after the Supreme Court struck down the use of emergency powers as the legal basis for US President Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariffs, potentially opening a brief window of relief, analysts said.Companies selling products made in China, or using Chinese raw materials, were likely to place larger orders in the coming weeks amid uncertainty over whether Trump’s pledge to raise a new tariff – from 10 per cent to 15 per cent – would take effect under a non-emergency statute or win congressional approval within the required 150 days, they said.Trump had partly justified last year’s tariff hikes on nearly all America’s trading partners under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), but the Supreme Court rejected that rationale on February 20.Jeff Bowman, CEO of Cocona, a Colorado-based seller of sweat-drying additives used in clothing fabrics, said the ruling had been “well received” and that the company was watching how its Chinese clients would respond.“There’s always a high degree of uncertainty in the current administration and how to plan for it,” Bowman said. “That’s sort of endemic.”For Excel Dryer, an American hand-dryer manufacturer, the shifting tariffs had affirmed its strategy to source all parts domestically, said William Gagnon, the company's executive vice-president.