China-US trade soars as exporters make most of tariff truce window

Surge in activity likely a wave of front-loading in bid to avoid steep duties

- 

BEIJING - A temporary trade truce between the world's two largest economies has sparked a knee-jerk bounce across China's ports and factory floors.

In the week beginning on May 12, when the US and China agreed to sharply reduce tariffs for 90 days, bookings on freighters headed from China to US shores more than doubled from the prior week to about 228,000 TEUs, or twenty-foot equivalent units, data from container-tracking platform Vizion and data provider Dun & Bradstreet shows.

Prices for space on ships across the Pacific into the US also rose, with spot rates from Shanghai to Los Angeles jumping about 16 per cent - the biggest increase for the route in 2025 - to US$3,136 (S$4,000) per 40-foot equivalent unit for the week ended May 15, according to the Drewry World Container Index.

The global composite index also rose the most in 2025.