Supply Chain Research

U.S. imports from China fell for a 17th straight month in May with a 6.8% drop. That was the slowest rate of decline since the downturn began as a result of the reopening of U.S. industry after COVID-19 as well as a number of tariff related effects. Imports of products covered by “list 2” tariffs of the section 301 program increased by 23.3% year over year after a steady decline while list 4A product shipments rose by 1.8%. The improvement in the latter was down to a 14x surge in imports of face masks. Excluding face masks, shipments of list 4A products, where tariffs have been set at 7....