Amy Magnus, the head of the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America, has been in the genre of trade for the past 40 years but has never experienced such an inventory by the retailers hoarding. In the United States, the warehouses are spread all over the country at a record quantity with every kind of Chinese imports like vacuum cleaner filters, microwaves, furniture pieces, swimwear, and others. In fact, these items are stacked to the ceiling and are breaking all the records.
Amy Magnus stated that her members work in association with 250,000 exporters and importers and her office is on the land border. She also mentioned that she witnesses the trucks coming on and off from the window of her office as her office is blessed with the bird’s eye view from Champlain, located in New York. She was surprised to check the busy road in the Christmas week, which is more congested than the week before.
She has matched the tune with other retailers, analysts, vendors, supply chain experts, and customs brokers that the retailers are not leaving any stone unturned to stockpile the inventory from China with the intention to save the higher tariffs, which is supposed to take its course in the upcoming year.
The buying spree for the retailers is also taking a flight, which is evident from the data shown by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates. This report shows that the US retail container ports have spiked by 13.6% and touched 2.04 million containers in October, which is a record high. This also contributed to fulfilling the US trade deficit with China to a new height.
Macy’s, Target, and Walmart also rushed to buy the Chinese products back in September, when the administration of US President Donald Trump announced 25% tariff on the imports.